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51 entries categorized "Publications--Associated Press"

November 06, 2011

Bloody repression will leave lasting scars

MAY 21 1992

BANGKOK POST SPECIAL AFTERNOON EDITION

by Nate Thayer of AP TAXI drivers and stockbrokers, students and noodle vendors reacted with defiance when once again the military intervened to block Thailand's road to democracy. And they vented their rage when a military clique turned its guns on civilians to retain power. While nobody is yet predicting that the military's days are over, an opposition stronger than ever has emerged to an army long seen as politicised and not particularly effective on the battlefield. Images of soldiers gunning down unarmed protesters and striking women with their rifle butts will be seared into the minds of millions. Even some soldiers and security officers are openly expressing disgust. "You cannot shoot down the people like falling leaves. I cannot accept what I saw with my own eyes," said Pol Maj-Gen Uthai Asvavilai, a senior police official at the scene where demonstrators were gunned down early on Tuesday morning. "If I am forced to act against my conscience, I will take off my uniform," he said. "We cannot forget soldiers using weapons payed for by taxpayers shooting down Thai citizens," said Jatuporn Prompan, a 26-year-old university student. It appears that a small group of army generals orchestrated the crackdown on a broad-based coalition of pro-democracy demonstrators who took peacefully to the streets to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon. At least 40 people have been killed and more than 600 injured since Sunday night. Each volley of shots into the crowd seemed only to galvanise the protesters. More and more came out to support the protests. Thousands also rallied in provincial capitals as word spread of the bloodshed. Coups and military intimidation have been regular features of Thai politics since the military helped topple absolute monarchy in 1932. But this time, the civilians they tried to cow into submission wouldn't budge. "No more military mafia!" was a popular banner strung across downtown streets occupied by more than 100,000 demonstrators, even after troops opened fire. A recent article by Robert Karniol, an editor for the respected military journal, Jane's Defence Weekly, characterised the Thai military as "incapable of organising an effective defence against conventional attack." He said "the few officers who recognise this are ignored by senior staff distracted by non-military pursuits." After a coup in February last year, Suchinda promised to crack down on corrupt government officials. He ordered investigations of a number of ministers of the previous government who were later branded as having amassed illegal wealth. Many Thais were outraged when the same officials were reappointed to Suchinda's newly formed government last month, allegedly by buying their way back into the government. Thailand's increasingly affluent middle class has especially grown intolerant of a military who seem more focused on muscling their way into political power than defending the country.

November 05, 2011

(Authors note: This was the release of the Story in the Far Eastern Economic Review the day before Pol Pot committed Suicide. He listened to the report on VOA Khmer language service at 8:00pm April 15, 1998. After ingesting poison, he was declared dead at 10:15PM that night. Khmer Rouge leaders contacted me 5 minutes later desperate for answers on how to handle the death of the last card in the deck they had to negotiate their survival (note time difference: 2:19pm EST is translated to 3:19am Cambodia time the following day)

HONG KONG (AP) -- Cambodia's Khmer Rouge officials have told a Hong Kong-based magazine they want to hand their former leader Pol Pot over to an international tribunal.

Meanwhile, Cambodia's army says it has trapped remaining Khmer Rouge forces in the mountains near the Thai border, and is poised to finish them off.

The Far Eastern Economic Review reported in its latest issue that the Khmer Rouge rebels have asked Review correspondent Nate Thayer for advice on how to deliver the notorious Pol Pot to the authorities.

Gen. Khem Nuon reportedly made the request Saturday during an interview with Thayer at the Thai-Cambodian border.

Khmer Rouge forces have held Pol Pot, 73, under house arrest since June, when they ousted him in a bloody internal power struggle.

Thayer interviewed Pol Pot last year after attending a communist-style ``People's Tribunal'' where the rebels denounced the former leader.

Gen. Nuon reportedly said the Khmer Rouge was unable to contact the United Sates or other countries, and asked Thayer to put them in contact with the ``right people.''

Thayer suggested they contact the International Committee of the Red Cross, the report said.

Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh in 1975 and ruled Cambodia until 1979, presiding over the deaths of an estimated 2 million people. A Vietnamese invasion in 1979 forced the Khmer Rouge to retreat back to the jungle.

There have been calls for Pol Pot to be brought before the International Court of Justice in the Hague to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The rebels hope handing Pol Pot to the authorities will bring food, medicine and other international support for the beleaguered Khmer Rouge.

According to Cambodian military sources, the army is currently hammering the Khmer Rouge guerillas near their former mountain stronghold along the Thai border.

Reports indicate Khmer Rouge head Ta Mok and an undetermined number of hard-line guerillas are holed up in the jungle peaks and attempting a last desperate stand.

Most of the government forces are made up of Khmer Rouge defectors, who oppose their former comrades' refusal to strike a peace deal with Phnom Penh.

Some 5,000 defectors are waiting out the fighting 25 miles south of the battle zone. The government said they will send them and their families home when it is safe.

October 25, 2011

Rage, tears greet Khmer Rouge

By Nate Thayer

Monday, November 18,1991

Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Sophan Nary broke down in tears Sunday when told the Khmer Rouge leaders who killed her family had returned and were staying next door to her noodle shop. "The government can give them permission to walk in the streets, but the people won't. We will kill them," said Nary, 26, whose shop is next to the heavily guarded villa housing the Khmer Rouge entourage.

Sixteen years after triumphantly entering Phnom Penh to begin a 3 ½ year reign that killed hundreds of thousands, the Khmer Rouge returned Sunday to Cambodia. They are part of a national reconciliation council set up by a UN brokered peace plan to usher in 1993 elections. Few Phnom Penh residents knew of the arrival of the 10-member Khmer Rouge delegation, led by Son Sen, the former chief of its secret police.

But crowds quickly gathered outside the government guest house where they are staying, exchanging tears and" angry stories of what the bloody regime had done to them. Several threatened to kill the Khmer Rouge if they emerged from the walled compound. Shortly after the Khmer Rouge arrived, Premier Hun Sen told a news conference that state radio had announced the return, but that national television would not broadcast pictures of

the delegation for security reasons. "If Son Sen goes out and the people recognize him, they might try to harm him," said Hun Sen. He added that he would not deal with the Khmer Rouge outside actual council sessions, saying he might be "stoned by people" if he did.

Khmer Rouge leaders

The two Khmer Rouge leaders who returned

Sunday to Cambodia are:

SON SEN — As chief of the secret police, Son Sen was reportedly responsible for the forced evacuation of cities, Internal purges and executions that ravaged entire classes of Cambodian society in the mid-1970s.

KHIEU SAMPHAN— Served as head of state, and became— by process of brutal elimination — the right-hand man of leader Pol Pot. His doctoral thesis was the blueprint for a deadly agrarian revolution.

While maintaining some popular support in this largely rural rice-growing nation, the Khmer Rouge is despised in the cities, whose populations it targeted as class enemies in its pursuit of a radical agrarian Utopia. Government officials have expressed concern over the safety of the delegates and the government has guaranteed their security — although they will only allow them three bodyguards armed with pistols outside the compound. Under the peace accord signed last month, the Hun Sen government, the Khmer Rouge and two non-communist guerrilla groups will work as the Supreme National Council.

Yet many fear that the Khmer Rouge, which fought the Hun Sen government since its own ouster in 1978 by a Vietnamese invasion, will try again to take over. Apparently to prevent such a scenario, Hun Sen's government has been publicly cozy with Prince Norodom Sihanouk, a still-beloved former Cambodian leader who heads the reconciliation council. Nearly everybody in Phnom Penh says they remain afraid of the Khmer Rouge. "Don't believe anything the Khmer Rouge say. They are no better than dogs," said a somber Pen Chuut, who was one of several hundred people who gathered around the guest house. Down the street is a former Khmer Rouge torture center that has been preserved as a testament to its brutality. Adorning its walls are 20,000 photographs of those tortured and executed by the 1975-1978 regime.

'If (Khmer Rouge leader) Son Sen goes out and the people recognize him, they might try to harm him.'

North Koreans trained to hate U.S. from childhood

By NATE THAYER

The Associated Press

Friday, April 24, 1992

PYONGYANG, North Korea — At a kindergarten in Pyongyang, children take turns firing wooden machine guns at an effigy of a U.S. imperialist soldier. The teacher then pulls a string and the hinged head collapses.

The scene is no distant memory from the darkest days of the Cold War. It is a snippet from daily life in this hard-line communist state, where anti-American propaganda is everywhere. From beginning classes to diatribes in the state-controlled press, there is no escaping anti-U.S. propaganda.

It depicts Americans as wolves and urges North Koreans to remain vigilant against supposed U.S. plans to launch a war. Annual mass rallies throughout the nation bring hundreds of thousands of people together to condemn the "U.S. imperialists."

"Yankees are wolves in human form" is one sentence found in a popular book to teach English-language sentence structure. "Let's mutilate the American imperialists!" is an entry in an English phrase book.

"Of course I think the United States will start another war," said Kim Due Sun, 77, speaking in this capital city, which was virtually flattened by U.S. bombs during the Korean War. "Even the children in kindergarten know that the United States wants to bring war again. Even the babies hate the American imperialists."

Foreign residents from North Korea's former socialist allies say that even at the worst of times, anti-U.S. sentiments espoused by their governments could not compare to those encouraged by the North Korean regime.

Most of the North Koreans interviewed cited the stationing of U.S. soldiers in rival South Korea and annual U.S.-South Korean war games as reasons to fear a U.S. attack. "We are still in a state of war with the United States," Maj. Kim Song Nam said in an interview at Panmunjom, the truce village that straddles communist North and capitalist South Korea. "Of course, I am very hostile to them. We have done nothing wrong to them, but they have unilaterally given us suffering and misery. That is why we all call the Americans wolves."

His hostility was on display when he conducted a Western reporter through the Panmunjom neutral zone as American soldiers watched silently a yard away. "This is where we negotiate with the American bastards," he said evenly through an interpreter. Despite the rhetoric, President Kim II Sung appears ready for a thaw in relations with Washington, in part because the fall of his socialist allies has created a domestic economic crisis.

North Korea is desperate for hard currency to purchase items such as fuel and spare parts for factories. This month, Kim called for opening of diplomatic relations with the United States. Washington, which accuses Pyongyang of trying to build nuclear weapons and of engaging in international terrorism, has held meetings with North Korean officials since January in search of improved relations. The annual Team Spirit war games between the United States and South Korea were canceled this year, but fear of the United States instilled by a generation of relentless propaganda may be hard to erase.

A guide assigned to interpret for a U.S. reporter said his wife was frightened for his safety during the weeklong assignment, and his 2-year-old asked fearfully if the "Yankee was really a wolf."

October 24, 2011

Last remnants of Khmer Rouge surrender, without their leaders

By Robert Horn

December 5, 1998

Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand — The last main fighting force of the Khmer Rouge, the radical Marxist guerrillas who killed nearly two million Cambodians, has surrendered, a journalist close to the rebels said early today. Negotiators for the last band of guerrillas holed up near the Thai border met Friday with representatives of the government in Phnom Penh at Preah Vihear temple and agreed to lay down their arms, according to Nate Thayer of the Far Eastern Economic Review.

In 1997, Thayer became the first journalist allowed to interview Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, who had not been seen in public in nearly two decades and died in April. Thayer is one of few outsiders trusted by the guerrillas.

The surrender of the Khmer Rouge would bring to an end more than 30 years of'civil war in Cambodia that began with the Marxist guerrilla's insurgency against the government in Phnom Penh in the late 1960s.

Although the fighters' top surviving leaders, Tak Mok, Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea were not included in the deal, they no longer command any troops. Their former followers apparently did not want to give them up. Khem Nuon, Ta Mok's chief of staff who negotiated the surrender with government officials, said simply that they are "retired" and he refused to go into details about them, Thayer said.

The Cambodian government and the United States have expressed a desire to capture all three and try them for genocide and crimes against humanity. Khem Nuon claimed he was negotiating on behalf of 5,000 remaining ragtag troops and 15,000 civilians living under Khmer Rouge control. Thayer said, however, that he believed the estimate of fighting men was inflated, and that many of the civilians are living in the Phu Noi refugee camp in Thailand."There must be unity. There is no other way. There is no way for a military solution. No weapons. Only political struggle," Thayer said Khem Nuon told him in a telephone interview. The government was represented at the negotiations by Meas Sopheas, deputy chief of staff of the Cambodian military, Thayer said.

Under the agreement, Thayer said the remaining guerrillas will join the government army and the civilians will return to Anlong Veng. the guerrillas' former stronghold in the north. While it is possible some tiny bands of guerrillas are still wandering the jungles, Thayer said he knew of no sizable Khmer Rouge fighting force that could pose a viable threat to the government.

The Khmer Rouge came to power in April 1975 by overthrowing the U.S:-backed Lon Nol government.

Under the leadership of Pol Pot, they emptied the cities and attempted to turn the country into an agrarian utopia by herding the population on to collective farms. The experiment was a disaster economically and in human terms. Nearly two million people died of execution, overwork, starvation or disease under the Khmer Rouge until they were ousted from power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979. They have fought a guerrilla war against successive governments ever since, but wings of their movement began defecting to the government in 1996.

October 23, 2011

Khmer Rouge now assured of role in Cambodia's future

By Nate Thayer

Associated Press

Friday, August 30,1991

PATTAYA, Thailand — Ousted more than a decade ago as one of the age's bloodiest regimes, the Khmer Rouge is now ensured a role in Cambodia's political future and is following a careful blueprint for victory. The Communist rebel group has abandoned — for the time being —its quest to regain power through warfare in favor of seeking support for a role in an elected government, according to Khmer Rouge documents and other sources.

Talks brokered by the United Nations and world powers have made progress in recent days, but the leaders of Cambodia's warring parties failed at a four-day conference ending Thursday to forge a comprehensive peace pact to end the civil war that has wracked their homeland for 12 years.

The Khmer Rouge, two other guerrilla groups and the Vietnamese backed government they oppose remained deadlocked over a format for national elections and also appeared to be snagged on how to disarm their forces.

There were fears that the talks' failure would lead to fighting, violating the tenuous cease-fire that went into effect in June. The chief delegate for the Khmer Rouge guerrillas, Khieu Samphan, urged the United Nations to send peacekeepers to Cambodia immediately. A joint communique said Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the chief Cambodian mediator, would ask the United Nations to send at least 200 observers next month to monitor the cease-fire and halt arms shipments to the factions.

The negotiators will return to Pattaya for more talks Oct. 21-23 and meet in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh, in mid-November, Sihanouk said. The Vietnamese-installed Communist government of Prime Minister Hun Sen has been battling the Khmer Rouge and two non-communist groups since Vietnam invaded and ousted the Khmer Rouge in late 1978.

The major powers have agreed that the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge will have to play some role in Cambodia's future government if there is to be any peace. A UN plan provides for the Khmer Rouge to share power with its enemies and allies in an interim period prior to UN-supervised elections. "Our army is not going to defeat the enemy by fighting them," Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot said in a 1988 speech to his lieutenants. "These days our army goes into the interior to build up popular strength," he said. "Such popular strength is the genesis of state power."

Architect of a reign of terror in the mid-1970s that left hundreds of thousands dead, the secretive Pol Pot spoke of "going on the offensive with our themes of reasonableness, openness, and all inclusiveness."

A copy of the speech was recently made available to The Associated Press. It was authenticated by several prominent Cambodia scholars and diplomats in Bangkok who say its contents remain valid today. Pol Pot is no longer officially head of the Khmer Rouge but remains a formidable and feared shadow force within the organization. Since being overthrown, the Khmer Rouge has gained significant popular following and built a strong army. It has forced its enemies— both within Cambodia and around the world — to include it in any effective peace settlement.

Through sophisticated strategies and despite its odious record, the Khmer Rouge has rebuilt a network of support in the countryside that leaves it in a strong position to do well in any national elections, according to intelligence officials and Cambodian leaders from the other factions. "People still remember the Khmer Rouge time, but they want peace more," said Gen. Nyek Buon Chay of the guerrilla group loyal to Sihanouk. The Sihanoukists and another guerrilla faction led by ex-prime minister Son Sann — both non-communist groups supported by the United States — are loosely allied with the Khmer Rouge against the Phnom Penh government.

"People hate Pol Pot and the big leaders, but the local leaders they like. They know them, they do not treat the people badly and many people support them," Chay said in a recent interview inside Cambodia. "If the people hate the Khmer Rouge so much, why do they get bigger and stronger?" the general said.

In the 68-page speech, Pol Pot outlined a strategy under which the Khmer Rouge would push for power through elections.

Cambodian rebels arrive for reconciliation talks

By Nate Thayer

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia —For 13 years, they tried to capture the Cambodian capital by force. On Tuesday, anti-Communist guerrillas flew into Phnom Penh to begin reconciliation talks under a UN mediated peace plan.

Leaders of the Western-backed Khmer People's National Liberation Front arrived for a meeting of the Supreme National Council, an interim government headed by resistance leader Prince Norodom Sihanouk. Sihanouk, 69, is due to arrive, Thursday, and a huge welcome is expected for the onetime king and head of state. Sihanouk was overthrown in a coup by pro-U.S. officers in 1970.

The four-faction Supreme Council is to run Cambodia until 1993, when UN-supervised elections are scheduled. "We are very happy to be home. It is the first time in more than 16 years," said the non-Communist Liberation Front's Cabinet chief, Pen Thol. "Achieving peace was difficult, but reconstruction of our country and building a better life will be much harder," he told The Associated Press.

Cambodia was embroiled in civil war until the Communist Khmer Rouge took over in 1975. The Khmer Rouge ruled for four bloody years, leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead from starvation, disease and executions, until they were ousted by the Vietnamese.

Cambodia's main rebel groups

• Khmer Rouge:The strongest guerrilla group, the Communist Khmer Rouge ruled from 1975 to 1978 with repressive regime believed responsible for 1 million deaths from executions, famine and unrest. Ousted by Invasion of Soviet-backed Vietnamese forces. Estimated strength: 30,000 troops. Led publicly by Khteu Samphan and Son Sen, but there Is speculation former dictator Pol Pot may still be In charge.

• Khmer People's National Liberation Front:Led by former Cambodian Prime Minister Son Sann, It is other major non-communist guerrilla force. Made pact with Sihanouk's forces In 1982.

A coalition of 13 international aid agencies issued a statement Tuesday expressing fears over Khmer Rouge participation in the interim council. The International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity said it was concerned "about the absence of any judicial action" against Khmer Rouge leaders. "The international community has an obligation to the (Cambodian) people to prevent a return to the human rights abuses of the 1970s," it said.

The Liberation Front guerrillas fought from the jungles along the Thai border for years,' hoping to topple the pro-Hanoi government. The guerrillas were in a loose coalition with the Khmer Rouge and a group loyal to Sihanouk.

An advance team from Sihanouk's followers has already arrived in Phnom Penh. The Khmer Rouge are to arrive next week •

A UN-brokered peace accord signed in Paris last month officially ended the conflict and set in motion an international effort to monitor the cease-fire, disarm the combatants, help reconstruct this country of 6 million residents and organize elections.

The truce itself has gotten off to a rocky start, with all factions trading accusations of violations. "We cannot build trust after 13 years of fighting overnight," said Pen Thol. "If we all work sincerely, the interests of the country and the people can come to a common ground."

Also arriving Tuesday was the French general who will head the advance UN military contingent observing the truce. He promised to deal with the hundreds of thousands of mines littering the countryside from years of war.

Meanwhile, curious onlookers continued to gawk at the Phnom Penh villa where the first UN troops are staying. The Australians staying there said Cambodians were particularly puzzled by a flag depicting a kangaroo in boxing gloves.

Cambodia talks to move to capital

By Nate Thayer

Associated Press

Wednesday, June 26,1991

PATTAYA, Thailand — Prince Norodom Sihanouk said the three Cambodian rebel factions agreed Tuesday that the unity commission negotiating a settlement of the 13-year-old civil war should move to the capital.

No timetable was set, but he suggested the move to Phnom Penh could come this summer. Sihanouk, the former ruler of Cambodia who heads a guerrilla group, said the three rebel groups and the government were trying to settle how to monitor their latest agreement on a cease-fire. The truce pact was signed Monday.

Tuesday's agreement to establish the headquarters of the Supreme National Council in Phnom Penh came on the second day of peace talks between the three-party rebel coalition and the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen. "When Hun Sen gives me the signal, I will go immediately to Phnom Penh, perhaps in August," Sihanouk said. "We have achieved our national reconciliation and Phnom Penh does not belong exclusively to Mr. Hun Sen."

There was no immediate comment from the other participants at the talks. The council is comprised of representatives of the government and the guerrilla groups —Sihanouk's force, Son Sann's Khmer People's National Liberation Front and the Communist Khmer Rouge.

The council was formed to negotiate the implementation of a UN Security Council peace plan, which the government thus far has partly rejected. After a settlement, the council is supposed to help guide the nation in the period before UN-supervised elections.

Sihanouk said the members of the council would take their own armed guards to Phnom Penh. The rebel leaders have not been in Phnom Penh since they fled the Vietnamese invasion force that entered the capital in late 1978, drove out the Khmer Rouge regime and installed the current government. "From now on, the Supreme National Counc.il is operational," Sihanouk told reporters. "The Cambodian nation at last has a unified government.. . . There is a cease-fire and cessation of arms supplies, at least on paper, and the headquarters of the SNC is in Phnom Penh."

Previous truces have fallen apart, and Monday's agreement on an indefinite cease-fire left many issues unresolved, including how to halt combat and disarm the opposing groups. The prince said the council had not settled those differences, but added that a monitoring team of government and guerrilla members would be formed and a UN role would be explored. The Khmer Rouge had proposed a 700-man UN monitoring team, but the government apparently rejected the idea. Hun Sen has opposed a UN military force in Cambodia.

A UN monitoring force is called for under the peace plan approved Nov. 26 by the U.N. Security Council. The rebel groups have fully accepted the plan, which also calls for demobilization of the four factions and extensive U.N. involvement in the country's administration and military affairs before UN-supervised elections. Hun Sen's government has rejected disarmament before elections because it fears the Khmer Rouge will cheat. It is demanding measures that would prevent the group from returning to power. Hundreds of thousands of people died of famine, disease or execution during the Khmer Rouge's 3 1/2 years in power.

Plane crash bomb theory is fading

By Nate Thayer

Associated Press

Friday, May 31,1991

BANGKOK, Thailand — Early indications from the investigation into the crash of an Austrian jet are pointing away from a bomb, experts close to the probe said Thursday. One said speculation now focuses on engine failure. But the investigators all stressed that no firm conclusions could be drawn yet and no possibility had been excluded.

Meanwhile, the jet's "black boxes" were being sent to the National Transportation and Safety Board in Washington for examination, Thai officials said. The Lauda Air Boeing 767 crashed late Sunday in northwest Thailand, 16 minutes after takeoff from Bangkok. All 223 people aboard the plane were killed. It was the first crash of a Boeing 767 and the 12th worst in commercial aviation history.

Previously, speculation had focused on a bomb. But one European aviation expert close to the investigation said Thursday that "no evidence of any sort of explosive device" had been found so far. "Most attention is now focused on the possibility of an engine implosion," said the expert, speaking on condition of anonymity. He said that one wing, with an engine attached, was found 12 miles from the rest of the wreckage and significantly intact, possibly indicating the wing broke off first and then the plane crashed. However, other experts have said the distance of the wing from the wreckage is in dispute.

In Seattle, Boeing spokesman Jack Gamble challenged the claim that one wing was found 12 miles from the wreckage. "Both the engines and the wings are in the general area of the fuselage that they've found," he said. "The story is out that one wing is 12 miles away from the rest of the airplane, and that's not true."

A U.S. aviation official said investigators would have expected to see the wreckage spread over a larger area if a bomb was involved. "If it had been an explosive device you would expect a larger area of debris," said Don Smith, regional manager for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration based in Singapore. But he would not speculate as to the cause of the crash.

An official of the Thai Aviation Department who flew over the site said "We are still looking at every aspect including engine failure. There was no shrapnel, no evidence" of an explosive device, he said.

Marxists' stand threatens Cambodian peace

By Nate Thayer

June 11, 1992

Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — The head of the UN mission on Wednesday accused the Khmer Rouge guerrillas of undermining Cambodia's peace accord and warned that widespread fighting could erupt again. Yasushi Akashi, who leads the biggest UN peacekeeping operation, condemned the radical Marxist group for refusing to disarm as required by the peace treaty signed by Cambodia's four warring factions in October. He said the Khmer Rouge also was barring UN troops from territory it controls. "The position of the Khmer Rouge constitutes a clear breach of the peace agreement and is totally unacceptable," Akashi told reporters.

Despite the lack of cooperation from the Khmer Rouge, he said UN officials planned to begin disarming two other rebel factions and troops of the Vietnamese-installed government as scheduled Saturday. Akashi promised that UN forces would not allow the Khmer Rouge to gain an advantage over the other factions, but it was unclear whether the groups would go along.

Prince Norodom Rannariddh, head of one of the guerrilla armies, told reporters Friday that he would not allow his troops to be disarmed as long as the Khmer Rouge refused to do so. "How can we?" Ranariddh said. "If one of the parties does not agree, then I cannot go alone."

Akashi said that if the Khmer Rouge did not begin disarming within a month — the scheduled time for this stage of the peace plan — then the entire accord might collapse and reignite the 14-year-old civil War. Some fighting has been reported in several areas of Cambodia in recent days, and the United Nations has accused the Khmer Rouge of making attacks this week in the northern province of Preah Vihear.

The leader of the Khmer Rouge, Khieu Samphan, told an emergency meeting of the four factions and UN officials Wednesday that he refused to disarm because the United Nations had not implemented other aspects of the peace accord, such as ensuring all Vietnamese troops are removed from Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge says Vietnam secretly has thousands of soldiers in Cambodia who are attacking it. Vietnam claims it withdrew its last troops in 1989, and the United Nations says it has no evidence that Vietnamese soldiers are still in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge also said the Vietnamese-installed government in Phnom Penh should be dismantled before UN officials proceed with disarmament.

Khmer Rouge push for Hun Sen trial

(Author's note: The Khmer Rouge would routinely announce spurious and fictional accounts of my visits to their control zones over their radio, often before I had managed to exit their jungle hideouts and file a report. Note this radio broadcast was days after I interviewed Pol Pot and before I had released or published any story regarding my visit or the Pol Pot interview. They, in fact, gave me no documents whatsoever. At this point, they were reduced to using manual typewriters as their headquarters was without even electricity)

Associated Press

October 21, 1997

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) —Khmer Rouge guerrillas said on a radio broadcast Sunday that if they hand over longtime leader Pol Pot for trial before an international tribunal, Cambodia's current leader, Hun Sen, should be tried as well. The guerrillas said they had given American journalist Nate Thayer documents that implicate the Cambodian coup leader in "great crimes."

"Hun Sen has committed crimes, treason and mass killings of Cambodian people," they said. "If the international court arrests Hun Sen, try him along with Pol Pot."

Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia 1975-79, killing as many as 2 million people in their ruthless drive to quickly transform the country into a Marxist agrarian society. Hun Sen held power after a Vietnamese invasion overthrew the Khmer Rouge in 1979. He controls the country again after deposing his co-prime minister, Prince Norodom Ranariddh, in a July coup.

N. Korea courts the U.S.

By Nate Thayer

April 17, 1992

The Associated Press

PYONGYANG, North Korea— North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung, who celebrated his 80th birthday on Wednesday, was quoted as saying it is time for better relations with the United States. "There is spring between the people of our country and the people of the United States, spring begins," Kim was quoted as saying in the Washington Times. "My wish is to establish (a U.S. Embassy in Pyongyang) as quickly as possible." He also reportedly said North Korea would turn over more remains of U.S. soldiers from the 1950-53 Korean War.

Tens of thousands North Koreans danced in Pyongyang's streets to celebrate Kim's birthday. Fireworks lasted more than two hours, and neon signs flashed socialist slogans.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the North Korean Ministry of Atomic Energy said Tuesday that international inspection of North Korean nuclear facilities could start any time after the end of May. At that time, "when they come for a first inspection, it is their decision; not ours," said Choe Jung-sung. He was referring to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, with which North Korea has concluded a safeguards agreement.

U.N. begins disarming Cambodian soldiers

By Nate Thayer

June 14,1992

Associated Press Writer

PREY VENG PROVINCE, Cambodia — The Khmer Rouge refused to take part in the U.N.- directed disarmament of Cambodia's four fighting factions that began Saturday. The disarming of government soldiers and three guerrilla groups is a critical element of the peace plan that all sides agreed to last year. The Khmer Rouge said other aspects of the plan were not being adhered to, so it would not lay down its weapons.

The Khmer Rouge position raises the possibility of a new surge in fighting because other factions have warned that they will respond in kind to any aggression. The Khmer Rouge has attacked several government positions during the past few weeks. Troops of the Phnom Penh government turned over guns and ammunition on Saturday and reported to sites for cantonment, or temporary quartering, in several areas of the country, including this eastern province.

At cantonment sites in Prey Veng and near the capital, Phnom Penh, more than a ton of ammunition was turned over to the United Nations. Gen. John Sanderson, the military commander of the U.N. operations, told reporters that no Khmer Rouge guerillas showed up at the sites. Yasushi Akashi, the overall leader of the U.N. mission, said, "Time is very much running out. The door is gradually being closed."

It could not immediately be determined whether any weapons had been turned over by fighters of the two noncommunist guerrilla factions: the Khmer People's National Liberation Front and fighters loyal to Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who now leads the reconciliation council that is guiding Cambodia through the transitional period until free elections are conducted.

The U.N. Security Council on Friday appealed to the Khmer Rouge to rejoin the peace process. The statement, released in New York, said, "Any delay could jeopardize the whole peace process."

Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan reiterated Friday that his faction would refuse to cooperate until the U.N. force first verified that Vietnamese troops had left the country and that the Phnom Penh government was stripped of most of its powers. Vietnam said it withdrew its last troops in September 1989, and the U.N. mission said it had no evidence that any Vietnamese soldiers remained in the country.

Cambodia has suffered 22 years of warfare and turmoil, sparked by a 1970 coup by pro-U.S. military officers. A Vietnamese invasion in late 1978 brought down the Khmer Rouge government, which led a three-year reign of terror over the country. More than 1 million of Cambodia's 8 million people died under Khmer Rouge rule — by execution, in civil unrest and from starvation.

A representative for the rebel National Liberation Front vowed to join with the government to battle Khmer Rouge forces if they would not cease their fighting.

Khmer Rouge smell victory

Cambodian rebels enjoy strong backing by China

By Nate Thayer

July 21, 1990

The Associated Press

SIEM REAP PROVINCE, Cambodia — Khmer Rouge guerrillas have seized large areas deep inside Cambodia in recent months and say they will fight as long as needed if they are shut out of a political settlement.

A recent five-week, 450-mile trip through the country's north by this reporter found the Khmer Rouge have strong Chinese support and have stockpiled caches of weapons, ammunition and funds in case foreign aid is cut. The United States announced Wednesday it was withdrawing recognition of the guerrilla coalition dominated by the Communist Khmer Rouge. The coalition also includes the non-Communist forces of Prince Norodom Sihanouk and Son Sann.

The U.S. move was prompted by fears of a return to power of the Khmer Rouge. The Communist group killed hundreds of thousands of people in forced agrarian reform in the 1970s until Vietnam invaded and installed a new government in early 1979.

The 30,000-man Khmer Rouge army already controls hundreds of villages in the country's south, west and north, and it operates in virtually all parts of the country.

In their jungle command posts, senior Khmer Rouge commanders said recently they were stepping up the fight to force the Vietnamese-backed government into political concessions. "The Khmer Rouge have everything they want from China. They don't need any more guns or money," said Col. Khan Savoeun, a commander of Sihanouk's army. "U.S. support for the non-Communists is very important psychologically for the non-Communist resistance. But it means nothing to the Khmer Rouge."

Ta Pok, a Khmer Rouge brigade commander in this northwestern province, said he listened to the Voice of America and Radio Free Asia for news on peace and hoped for progress. But he said the guerrillas cannot wait around for documents to be signed. "The Vietnamese will only listen to strength, and if they don't listen they will lose everything," he said.

The guerrillas have seized large quantities of weapons in recent fighting. Dozens of hidden jungle bases are full of ammunition, and captured heavy weapons were seen in the north.

The Chinese aid is channeled through the Thai border. But as the guerrillas push deeper into the country, they rely on the hidden caches and food from recently seized villages. Thousands of soldiers and civilian supporters were seen moving freely through newly seized areas. Heavy fighting between Khmer Rouge and government troops holed up at several key forward outposts defending Siem Riep city was heard every day. The guerrillas mined roads, attacked supply convoys and overran government artillery bases. “ We are winningmore easily than we expected. There is nothing that can stop us," said Khmer Rouge division commander Mit Lot, in charge of areas around the ancient temples of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap province. "If (Cambodian Prime Minister) Hun Sen is not flexible, we will fight and for sure we will win," he said.

The guerrillas appear to have substantial popular support. Many villagers say the Khmer Rouge are not forcing them to fight, and that they pay those who help carry ammunition and supplies. The guerrillas also pay a high price for rice. However, some villagers said they were afraid to refuse guerrilla requests for help.

As part of preparations in case foreign aid is cut, the Khmer Rouge have seized large gem-mining areas in the south and collect more than $500,000 monthly in taxes from miners, said Western intelligence analysts in Bangkok. In the north, they have created a sophisticated logging operation, trucking teakwood to Thailand. The guerrillas now have a network of thousands of miles of roads snaking from areas under their control to new front lines deep in the interior.

Refugees con Americans with MIA information

Editor's note: The writer has lived for more than two years along the Thai-Cambodian border, and has been offered numerous artifacts and data about alleged American MlAs in Indochina.

By Nate Thayer

July 21, 1991

Associated Press Writer

BANGKOK, Thailand -"I have bones from dead American pilots," the Cambodian refugee whispered to this reporter, handing over a small packet of teeth, bone chips and a serviceman's identification number. "Is it true I can get $1 million from the Americans?" he asked.

The episode took place recently at a refugee camp along Thailand's eastern border with Cambodia, and the identification turned out not to belong to any of the 2,274 U.S. serviceman missing in action, or MIA, from the Vietnam War. But the offer illustrates the rumors —some based in fact — that have spread for years through rebel-held camps bordering Communist Laos and Cambodia, of huge rewards awaiting those who can show that U.S. servicemen are imprisoned in Indochina or those who can lead to their bodies.

The release of a photo this week purporting to show three U.S. prisoners of war has renewed debate over whether Americans are still held 16 years after the Vietnam War. Families of the three missing men say the men are in the photo. The three countries strongly deny they are holding prisoners. Numerous refugees and guerrillas have emerged from the jungles carrying bones, maps, letters purported to be from U.S. prisoners, and "dogtags" — military identification neckchains. They also talk of foreign captives in jungle hideouts. Refugees are often keen to provide stories about Americans in hopes of enhancing their chances of being resettled in the United States. Guerrillas are eager for cash.

The information is usually passed through relief officials or other foreigners to the U.S. Joint Casualty Resolution Center office at the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok. Most is immediately dismissed as fraudulent or irrelevant. The packet which the reporter received at Site 2 was sent to the center, but the identification number did not belong to anyone on the Pentagon's list of Americans missing in action.

Most of the "evidence" turns out to be scams engineered by hucksters and conmen, although some is credible. But none has been proven. No prisoners have been brought out.

Still, many remain convinced that Americans remain captive. Teams of privately funded Americans have offered huge rewards, set up safe houses along the Thai border, and sent agents into remote jungles in efforts to obtain remains or bring back Americans alive.

Billionaire H. Ross Perot in 1986 offered $4.2 million to obtain a videotape purportedly showing POWs in Laos. Many of the private American teams' investigating reports accuse their government of dragging its feet, ignoring. evidence and conspiring to stifle efforts to bring back prisoners.

“American Journalist praised by Khmer Rouge for ‘support’ ”

(Author's note: This was from a KR radio broadcast the day after my interviewing Pol Pot and 4 days before publication of that first inteview in two decades in the Far Eastern Economic Review. Not only did it piss me off, it underscored their cluelessness on any remotelessly effective PR strategy)

The Associated Press

October 20, 1997

Phnom Penh, Cambodia (AP)-The Khmer Rouge yesterday praised an American journalist Saturday who in June was the first outsider to see the group’s notorious leader Pol Pot in 18 years, and said he is back in guerrilla territory interviewing them again.

In a radio broadcast, the radical Marxist guerrillas said their leader Khieu Samphan met with Nate Thayer, a journalist with the Far eastern Economic Review on October 15.

A few of Thayer’s colleagues also were present at the Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng, 190 miles Northwest of Phnom Penh, the announcer said.

Thayer captured international attention in June when he witnessed a show trial of Pol Pot by the guerrillas he had led for three decades.

Doubts persist, however, as to whether the Khmer Rouge has truly repudiated Pol Pot, or whether Pol Pot staged the trial himself as a propaganda ploy.

“Khieu Samphan thanked Nate Thayer and the international neutral press for taking note of the truth about the struggle of the Cambodian nation and people to reach real real national reconciliation, peace, and democracy,” Saturday’s radio broadcast said.

"The Cambodian nation and people strongly need the support and assistance from the international community in order to realize this very sacred objective."

The Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia 1975-79, transforming the country into a vast labor camp, and killed as many as 2 million of the country’s 7 million people through starvation, exhaustion, and execution.

The Khmer Rouge waged a guerrilla war in the countryside after they were ousted by a Vietnamese invasion. The movement began to crumble last year, however, as thousands of war-weary guerrillas began defecting to the government.

Khieu Samphan remains holed up near Anlong Veng with the group’s last hard-liners, who in an attempt to make themselves more palatable to the international community, said they cut their ties with Pol Pot.

In the trial witnessed by Thayer and cameraman David Mckaige, Pol Pot was denounced by his comrades as a murderous traitor and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Khmer Rouge on the move in Cambodia

Guerrillas control large chunks of country, target provincial capitals

EDITOR'S NOTE — Associated Press correspondent

Nate Thayer spent five weeks with Cambodian guerrillas deep inside Cambodia, the first Western journalist to make such a trip during the 11-year-old war. This is his report.

By Nate Thayer

The Associated Press

July 18, 1990

NATIONAL HIGHWAY 6, Cambodia — Guerrillas have seized hundreds of villages and military positions in northern Cambodia, forcing the army to fall back and defend besieged provincial capitals.

Evidence of the most significant guerrilla gains in more than 11 years of fighting was clear during a five-week trip with the insurgents that covered 450 miles.

The three-partyguerrilla coalition, which includes the Communist Khmer Rouge, controls large areas of the north and northwest. The insurgents are shelling and launching commando raids on key provincial capitals.

Senior guerrilla commanders say the attacks are in preparation for full-scale assaults on the cities of Kompong Thorn and Siem Reap, and the ancient temples of Angkor near Siem Reap.

During the trip, hundreds of government artillery shells and rockets landed daily, shaking the paddies of a beautiful rice-growing region engulfed by war. Debris from bridges blown up by guerrillas littered highways. The jungle fighters set up ambushes to attack convoys trying to resupply forward government outposts defending the major urban areas. Guerrilla medics trained in China ran field hospitals, dressing wounds and amputating limbs.

As the guerrillas advance, the world seeks a political solution and worries that the Khmer Rouge, whose bloody regime was overthrown by a Vietnamese invasion in December 1978, may regain power. More than a million Cambodians were killed or died of starvation during 3 1/2 years of Khmer Rouge rule. Khmer Rouge commandersexpressed confidence they would capture Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital. They used maps to illustrate encirclement from the north, south and west —similar to the strategy in 1975, when the Khmer Rouge defeated the U.S.-backed government of President Lon Nol.

The trip, with an escort of guerrillas loyal to Prince Norodom Sihanouk, leader of the coalition, began on the Thai border and covered three northern provinces. Included was a 30-mile stretch of National Highway 6, a government lifeline to outlying provinces, now in guerrilla hands.

It provided the first independent confirmation of the guerrillas' claims that they have advanced deep inside the country. Thousands of Sihanouk's guerrillas were seen lounging in villages, shopping in bustling markets and manning lines around Kompong Thom, which they said was their next target. Kompong Thom, a strategic crossroads city, is 90 miles north of Phnom Penh.

In separate attacks, the Khmer Rouge was advancing toward Siem Reap, 200 miles northwest of Phnom Penh, and was within reach of the Angkor temples. "We have taken all the positions around Siem Reap, isolating the town," said Ta Pok, a Khmer Rouge brigade commander interviewed at his jungle base north of the city. "We are winning everywhere we are fighting," said Col. Khan Savoeun, a commander of forces loyal to Sihanouk, Cambodia's former ruler, at headquarters in Stoeung, the de facto capital of what the Sihanoukists call their liberated zone.

In the war's early stages, most guerrillas were in bases along the Thai border and obtaining weapons from China was easy, given Thailand's support for the insurgents. Now the lines have shifted far from the frontier.

The Sihanouk forces and the Khmer Rouge have forged a network of thousands of miles of secret roads and trails into the interior. Convoys of trucks, oxcarts and thousands of civilian supporters were seen daily moving supplies from jungle caches to forward areas. Convoys of Chinese-supplied trucks and captured government vehicles moved freely along sections of provincial highways that were under government control less than a year ago.

More than 50,000 insurgents are fighting an army that has superior firepower, but is mostly conscripts reported to be poorly trained. The guerrilla groups led by Sihanouk and Son Sann are non-Communist, but the Khmer Rouge is by far the strongest. The war took a favorable turn for the guerrillas last fall, when Vietnam withdrew most of its soldiers, leaving the forces of Premier Hun Sen to face the battle-tested guerrillas alone. "Sometimes I think Hun Sen is stupid; you know we don't need to negotiate with him now," said Mit Lot, Khmer Rouge deputy division commander at a base 12 miles from the Angkor Wat ruins. “If they don’tcompromise, they will lose everything. At this rate the war will be over by the end of the year," he said.

Although the Khmer Rouge is the most powerful force in the coalition, it seemed clear during the trip that the non-Communists had gained considerable support and scored significant military victories. The Khmer Rouge has little public support because of its history, and that hampers its effectiveness in more heavily populated areas.

Sihanouk's commanders described a raid by 400 commandos who briefly seized Kompong Thom in late June. They destroyed military positions and tested the waters for what guerrilla field commanders said would be a full-scale attack on th provincial capital. Heavy weapons could be seen in place less than five miles from the city and rockets were being fired at Kompong Thom.

The Sihanouk forces claim to control more than 700 towns and villages. A major source of their strength appears to be wide public support for Sihanouk, revered by many as a god-king during his reign. Around Stoeng, on Highway 6 less than a 30- minute drive from Kompong Thom, non-Communists control the largest area of Indochina since the Americans left 15 years ago.

Followers of Sihanoukhave trained hundreds of civilian administrators, teachers and medical personnel and begun an aggressive effort to re-establish Buddhism. Thousands of children were seen attending primary schools. Dozens of Buddhist temples were being refurbished and others built.

While the Sihanoukists and Khmer Rouge are in a loose coalition, tension between the groups was evident. "For the time being, we share common military goals with the Khmer Rouge, but we are in full control here," said Col. Khan Savouen, commander of the Kompong Thom area. "The Khmer Rouge understand strength, and we are very strong in Kompong Thom”

“Cambodian guerrillas advance attack”

EDITOR'S NOTE – Associated Press reporter Nate Thayer was the first to travel in an area of Cambodia where guerrillas have claimed recent victories. Returning, he was wounded by shrapnel from a land mine that destroyed the truck in which he was riding and killed the driver.

By NATE THAYER

Associated Press Writer

October 16, 1989

ROUTE 69, Cambodia (AP) —Following their capture of three towns, Cambodian guerrillas have begun a coordinated attack on the only big town blocking their advance to the strategic city of Sisophon, which is controlled by the Vietnam-installed government. The guerrillas claim they already have taken frontline positions at Svey Chek. The offensive began Saturday, and all day the area reverberated with hundreds of artillery blasts.

More than 1,000 guerrillas were seen Saturday trekking on the roads to Svey Chek from the recently captured towns of Thmar Puok, Banteay Chmar and Kandoul. Following them were convoys of people carrying ammunition and more than 50 ox carts full of ammunition, mortars, rockets and anti-tank weapons.

The Khmer People's National Liberation Front claimed it seized Thmar Puok and Banteay Chmar, along Highway 69 leading to Sisophon, and Kandoul, just west of the highway, days after launching a "general offensive" on Sept. 30. A 16-hour, 94-mile tour Saturday of the towns and several captured artillery bases showed they were firmly under the Liberation Front's control. Field commanders said the Liberation Front was attacking Svey Chek in uncommon coordination with its two partners in the resistance coalition, the Khmer Rouge and the forces of Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

The guerrillas are trying to topple the government Vietnam installed after it invaded Cambodia in late 1978. Their attacks intensified after Vietnam made what it called the pullout of its last troops from Cambodia on Sept. 26. Capturing Sisophon, a major military base for operations in northwestern Cambodia, would be a major victory for the guerrillas, who have not seized any areas of such significance.

The tour began at a Liberation Front base along the Thai border south of the Dong Ruk mountains, where the guerrillas showed off captured equipment — more than 1,000 automatic rifles, heavy machine guns, mortars, many cases of anti-personnel mines and teletype machines with Soviet lettering. The journey into Cambodia was on motorcycles, with about 20 Liberation Front guerrillas. It was slow and grueling, covering roads drenched by monsoon rains. Everywhere were captured artillery positions, virtually all capable of hitting Site 2, the Liberation Front's major civilian base just inside Thailand. Three destroyed tanks, four destroyed heavy trucks and heavy artillery guns were abandoned on the roads. Everywhere were former government soldiers who had defected to the guerrilla side. The three captured towns appeared only lightly defended and there were no signs the guerrillas expected a counteroffensive.

October 20, 2011

Khmer Rouge leader returns, is beaten by Cambodian mob

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia An angry mob screaming "Dog!" and "Murderer!" today surged past police and beat a top leader of the Khmer Rouge, the Communist guerrilla group whose reign of terror in the 1970s left hundreds of thousands dead.

The government ordered in armored personnel carriers to evacuate Khieu Samphan, the right-hand man to top Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, as the crowd prepared to lynch him. Khieu Samphan and Son Sen, another Khmer Rouge leader, and their aides were flown back to Bangkok, Thailand.

Bleeding from the head and chest, Khieu Samphan cowered in a bedroom as security officers prevented him from being strung up by a wire tied to a ceiling fan.

"Please help me, please don't leave me," he pleaded, asking three foreign photographers to say in the room.

Only hours earlier, Khieu Samphan ended his exile and returned to Phnom Penh to take part in a UN-backed plan to end 13 years of civil war between the Khmer Rouge, its two non-Communist guerrilla allies and the government Vietnam installed after invading Cambodia in 1978.

The attack delayed what would have been the first meeting of a national reconciliation council and appeared to jeopardize a UN-brokered peace accord signed last month in Paris by all four warring factions.

The government, in a statement carried by its official news agency, said it remained fully committed to the peace pact. Under the accord, a Supreme National Council led by Prince Norodom Sihanouk would help pave the way for elections in 1993.

More than 10,000 angry demonstrators converged on the villa housing the Khmer Rouge delegation today after the 60-year-old Khieu Samphan's return. Khieu Samphan was one of the prime architects of the Khmer Rouge's murderous regime, which killed hundreds of thousands of people as the group tried to turn the country into a vast rural commune. Khieu Samphan is now the group's president.

After storming and ransacking the villa, the mob broke into the second-story room where Khieu Samphan was hiding. Reporters saw him huddled against a wall, wearing a steel helmet and bleeding profusely. He apparently had been struck by a rock.

As thousands of protesters ringed the house, six government armored personnel carriers moved into position outside. One backed into the front entranceway and Khieu Samphan, with several other members of his delegation, clambered onto the back of the vehicle.

Miners risk all for Cambodia rubies

BORAI, Thailand Thousands of fortune hunters risk land mines and malaria digging for rubies in the war zones of guerrilla-controlled western Cambodia.

Ruby fever has gripped this border town. Miners tell their adventures in bustling poolrooms and bars.

Lucky miners make fortunes, as in the gold rushes of the American West in the 19th century. They emerge from the jungle with pockets full of rubies.

Wutipong Sophapong, owner of a gas station in Borai, sat on his back porch fondling several hundred gems - dug from his yard in a single day, he said.

The Khmer Rouge captured the area east of Borai in 1989 and opened the border to Thai miners to help finance its war with Cambodia's Vietnam-sponsored government.

About 50,000 miners a month trek over the Ban Thad Mountains into the Cambodian jungles, according to Thai authorities. They say hundreds have died there, about one-third return with deadly cerebral malaria and others lose limbs to land mines.

Despite the risks, newcomers arrive every day.

"Over this mountain a few days' walk, you just stick your hand in the ground and the dirt is filled with red jewels," a miner said, his eyes sparkling while he waited to be checked for malaria.

The Khmer Rouge, who abolished money and all forms of private enterprise during their brutal 3 1/2 years in power, now oversee a sophisticated mining operation that miners and provincial officials say brings them millions of dollars a month.

Each miner pays the equivalent of $60 for access to the region and can keep whatever he finds. Officials say the windfall may allow the Khmer Rouge to buy weapons on the black market if supplies dry up from China, which is among the world powers searching for a peace formula in Cambodia.

Borai District officials estimate that more than 100 million baht ($4 million) change hands every day in deals over rubies.

"There are a lot of 3 or 4 million baht stones," the district chief of Borai said. "The most valuable one so far went for 24 million baht," about $1 million.

Less than a yard from where Wutipong sat on his back porch, the yard disappeared into a 100-foot-deep hole the size of a football field. The hole was filled with pumps, workers and two cranes worth $280,000 each, which the gas station owner bought after striking it rich a few months ago.

"There is an old canal under my house and we found rubies on both sides, so we are going to tear down the house in a few weeks," he said.

October 18, 2011

Cambodian peace may depend on UN troops

PHNOM PENH Cambodia could return to war if the United Nations does not send peacekeeping troops and administrators quickly to oversee the fragile peace accord, a U.S. congressman warned Wednesday.

"So far the peace agreement has succeeded in bringing an end to the fighting, but it could very easily fail if UN forces do not arrive soon," said Rep. Stephen Solarz (D-N.Y.), who is on a congressional fact-finding mission to this country.

The Vietnam-installed government and three rebel groups signed a peace accord in October that created a Supreme National Council to work with the United Nations to administer the country until elections in 1993.

All the parties called Monday to speed up the deployment of 10,000 UN peacekeepers.

Officials said a void in political leadership since the peace plan was signed threatens to plunge the country back into conflict.

An inaugural meeting of the reconciliation council was aborted twice by mob violence and instability in the capital.

A crowd beat and nearly killed Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan on his arrival from 13 years of exile on Nov. 27, forcing him to flee the country. The mob was enraged by the Khmer Rouge killing of hundreds of thousands of people during its fanatical Communist rule in 1975-78.

Last month, anti-government riots left at least eight people dead and 16 others wounded.

The government sent troops to regain control of the streets and banned any demonstrations.

Four missing Western journalists may be still detained by Iraq authorities, friend says

00-00-0000 Dateline: AMMAN, Jordan A colleague of four Western journalists and another American who entered Iraq without visas at the start of the war said Tuesday he believed they were being detained by Iraqi authorities.

Nate Thayer, an award-winning freelance journalist from Washington, D.C., said Iraqi authorities arrested him and his photographer, Molly Bingham of Louisville, Kentucky, at their hotel on March 24.

"After five hours of detention and questioning, I was released, but Molly did not come out with me," Thayer told The Associated Press. "I believe she is with the others, although I did not see their detention and no one else did."

He drove out of Baghdad to Jordan last Friday with an Italian photographer who was also being expelled.

"We believe they were detained by the Iraqi security forces, who believe they are something other than what they are," Thayer said. "We want to correct this misunderstanding and get those people back to their homes."

Thayer said that he, Bingham, Spanner and Latasha entered Iraq during the first hours of the U.S.-British bombing of Iraq and claimed they were tourists because they couldn't get press visas. McAllester and Saman went on the same day but with another group, he said.

Journalists expelled from Iraq have told Newsday that security officials came last Monday to the hotel where McAllester and Saman were staying and questioned reporters. No one saw McAllester and Saman removed, but their room was empty when a friend went to check on them, Newsday reported.

Spanner's photos of damaged official buildings in Iraq were printed in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten. The newspaper said Monday that Spanner was being held by Iraqi authorities on suspicions he could be a spy.

"Johan is an independent photographer and innocent," Thayer said. "He wanted to show the world the horror of the war."

Report: Khmer Rouge collapse drove Pol Pot to tears

04-23-1998 BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Pol Pot, the tyrannical leader of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, broke down in tears when he realized his once-mighty guerrilla movement was on the brink of defeat, according to an account of his final days published Thursday.

Pol Pot died on April 15 in a small hut near the Thai border as Cambodian government troops were trying to finish off the remnants of the Khmer Rouge. The 73-year-old revolutionary died of a heart attack, said his comrades-turned-captors.

The account in the Hong Kong-based magazine Far Eastern Economic Review suggests the heart attack may have been brought on by hunger, lack of medical care, even shock - upon learning the Khmer Rouge was preparing to turn him over to an international tribunal for trial on genocide charges.

The account was written by U.S. journalist Nate Thayer, who last year became the first foreign journalist in 18 years to have an interview with the elusive Pol Pot. The interview occurred shortly after Pol Pot was deposed as head of the movement and placed under house arrest.

Pol Pot led the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime that through its radical Maoist-inspired policies caused the deaths of as many as 2 million Cambodians - either in mass executions or from starvation and disease. Since then, the Khmer Rouge has operated as a guerrilla army operating mostly from northern Cambodia.

Thayer quoted a Khmer Rouge military commander as saying Pol Pot died just hours after he learned of the plan to hand him over from a news broadcast by the Voice of America shortwave radio service.

``We thought the shock of him hearing this on VOA might have killed him,'' the commander, Khem Nuon, is quoted as saying.

Khem Nuon, the story noted, had told Thayer a different account a week earlier, saying Pol Pot had been informed of the decision to send him for trial and accepted it with revolutionary stoicism.

Now he claims they only told him ``we were in a very difficult situation and perhaps it was better that he go abroad. Tears came to his eyes when I told him that.''

Thayer wrote that the fighting which drove the Khmer Rouge from their northern Cambodian stronghold of Anlong Veng prevented the ailing revolutionary from receiving proper care.

``For the last few weeks he had diarrhea and we haven't had much food,'' the current Khmer Rouge leader, Ta Mok, was quoted as saying.

A few days before his death, Pol Pot dyed his gray hair black, suggesting he was afraid of being captured.

At one point, Pol Pot was able to glimpse the turmoil caused by the fighting as he and his wife and 12-year-old daughter were being driven from one shelter to another, his minder, Non Nou, was quoted as saying.

``When he saw the peasants and our cadres lying by the side of the road with no food or shelter, he broke down into tears,'' said Non Nou.

Pol Pot's 40-year-old widow, Muon, quoted him as saying ``My only wish is that Cambodians stay united so that Vietnam will not swallow our country.'' Vietnam drove the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979.

Ta Mok denied, as he has previously, speculation that he had Pol Pot killed.

The very night Pol Pot died, Ta Mok said, he had wanted to move him to another house for security reasons.

``He was sitting in his chair, waiting for the car to come. But he felt tired. Pol Pot's wife asked him to take a rest. He lay down in his bed. His wife heard a gasp of air. It was the sound of dying. When she touched him, he had passed away already.''

October 14, 2011

(AP pickup of Far Eastern Economic Review story released hours before Pol Pot committed suiced upon hearing the news broadcast on VOA Khmer language service at 8:00PM 15 April, 1998) 04-14-1998 HONG KONG (AP) _ Cambodia's Khmer Rouge officials have told a Hong Kong-based magazine they want to hand their former leader Pol Pot over to an international tribunal.

Meanwhile, Cambodia's army says it has trapped remaining Khmer Rouge forces in the mountains near the Thai border, and is poised to finish them off.

The Far Eastern Economic Review reported in its latest issue that the Khmer Rouge rebels have asked Review correspondent Nate Thayer for advice on how to deliver the notorious Pol Pot to the authorities.

Gen. Khem Nuon reportedly made the request Saturday during an interview with Thayer at the Thai-Cambodian border.

Khmer Rouge forces have held Pol Pot, 73, under house arrest since June, when they ousted him in a bloody internal power struggle.

Thayer interviewed Pol Pot last year after attending a communist-style ``People's Tribunal'' where the rebels denounced the former leader.

Gen. Nuon reportedly said the Khmer Rouge was unable to contact the United Sates or other countries, and asked Thayer to put them in contact with the ``right people.''

Thayer suggested they contact the International Committee of the Red Cross, the report said.

Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh in 1975 and ruled Cambodia until 1979, presiding over the deaths of an estimated 2 million people. A Vietnamese invasion in 1979 forced the Khmer Rouge to retreat back to the jungle.

There have been calls for Pol Pot to be brought before the International Court of Justice in the Hague to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The rebels hope handing Pol Pot to the authorities will bring food, medicine and other international support for the beleaguered Khmer Rouge.

According to Cambodian military sources, the army is currently hammering the Khmer Rouge guerillas near their former mountain stronghold along the Thai border.

Reports indicate Khmer Rouge head Ta Mok and an undetermined number of hard-line guerillas are holed up in the jungle peaks and attempting a last desperate stand.

Most of the government forces are made up of Khmer Rouge defectors, who oppose their former comrades' refusal to strike a peace deal with Phnom Penh.

Some 5,000 defectors are waiting out the fighting 25 miles south of the battle zone. The government said they will send them and their families home when it is safe.

October 12, 2011

Torturer compares himself to St. Paul

BANGKOK, Thailand - Cambodians know him as the cruelest of the Khmer Rouge torturers, the author of such directives as "Use the hot method, even if it kills him" and, in the margin of a list of 17 children, "Kill them all."

In his own mind, he is St. Paul, a persecutor who renounced his past and became a Christian evangelist.

Kang Kek Ieu, better known by his revolutionary nickname, Duch, was the head of the Khmer Rouge secret police and the commandant of Tuol Sleng prison, where at least 14,000 people were tortured and killed. In the 20 years since the Khmer Rouge were ousted from power, he converted to Christianity and devoted himself to spreading the Gospel and to helping refugees who fled the brutality of his regime. "I think my biography is something like Paul's," he told Nate Thayer, an American reporter who recounted his strange story in an article last week in the Far Eastern Economic Review. "I feel very sorry about the killings and the past," said Duch (pronounced Dook), who is now 56 and had been living quietly and anonymously in western Cambodia. "I wanted to be a good communist. Now in the second half of my life, I want to serve God by doing God's work to help people." But he sought to make it clear that he had not tortured and killed for the fun of it. Indeed, he portrayed himself as a harried bureaucrat, constantly concerned about the quality of his product. "I did not get any pleasure about my work," he assured Thayer, speaking in broken English and in French. "All the confessions of my prisoners - I worried, is that true or not?" Almost as extraordinary as his personal story is the fact that, for the past two years, Cambodian authorities have known where he is, according to Thayer, and have made no move to arrest him. A senior Cambodian Justice official said Thursday that even now that Duch's whereabouts have been revealed, there are still no plans to put him in custody, as a defendant or a witness against other leaders. "I have no plan to summon him to Phnom Penh as a witness in Ta Mok's case," said Ngin Sam An, the investigating judge in the case of the only Khmer Rouge official to have been arrested, the commander Ta Mok. "There are also no plans yet to charge him separately with crimes." Youk Chhang, a researcher who has prepared evidence against Khmer Rouge leaders at the Documentation Center of Cambodia, called Duch a "very essential" witness against the people who are responsible for the deaths of more than a million people when they held power from 1975 to 1979. "He is the key to the conviction of Khmer Rouge leaders. His testimony can show that they were aware of what was happening," Youk Chhang said. Prime Minister Hun Sen has resisted international demands that other Khmer Rouge leaders be arrested, saying he fears this could cause a violent reaction among their followers, who now live in semiautonomous areas in the north and west of the country. Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea are prominent among these leaders. The two men surrendered last December and were given a guided tour of the country before returning to the security of the remote Khmer Rouge- controlled town of Pailin. In the interview, Duch implicated both men, as well as Ta Mok, as leaders who ordered the torture and killings he carried out at the prison known as S-21. "The first was Pol Pot," he said, naming the Khmer Rouge leader who died a year ago. "The second was Nuon Chea, the third Ta Mok." He added: "Khieu Samphan knew of the killings, but less than the others." The overriding rule at Tuol Sleng, Thayer quoted Duch, was a simple one: "Whoever was arrested must die." When a Vietnamese invasion drove the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979, Duch fled with other Khmer Rouge leaders into the jungles. According to his own account he left the movement in 1992 and became a teacher. Then, under assumed names, he worked until a few months ago with United Nations and private relief organizations. It was at that time that he converted to Christianity, he said. "After my experience in life I decided I must give my spirit to God," he said. Duch, whose thin face, large teeth and prominent ears made him one of the more recognizable faces in photographs of the Khmer Rouge, said he was fully prepared to face trial. "I have done very bad things in my life," he said, the first Khmer Rouge leader to make that admission. "Now it is time to bear the consequences of my actions."

Khmer Rouge Torturer Gives Interview

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia (AP) -- Eight Westerners were among the 14,000 people tortured and executed two decades ago at the Khmer Rouge's infamous Tuol Sleng prison, the former commandant said in a magazine interview.

Kaing Khek Iev, known as Duch, said American, British, French, Australian and New Zealand citizens were tortured with electric shocks for a month by the prison's chief interrogator, Mam Nay, before being killed.

Speaking in an interview published Thursday in the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review, Duch voiced remorse for the killings and said he would be willing to testify against Khmer Rouge leaders.

However, since the interview, Duch has disappeared. The Review said in a news release Wednesday that he had gone into hiding in fear for his life.

Human rights groups and experts on the Khmer Rouge genocide have said Duch could be killed to keep him from testifying before a Cambodian or international court.

The journalist who conducted the interview told The Associated Press that Duch said a former Khmer Rouge now in the Cambodian military police visited him last week and issued a veiled threat, saying, ``We see you have been talking to the bad people.''

Magazine correspondent Nate Thayer said Duch has good reason to be afraid.

``He is the link between the command-and-control and the killing machine,'' Thayer said. ``I'm sure there are a lot of people nervous that he will name them.''

In the interview with Duch, the former commandant said prisoners were killed ``like chickens.''

``Usually, we slit their throats,'' he said, drawing his finger across his neck.

The Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975 and transformed the country into a slave labor camp, causing the death of an estimated 1.7 million people from overwork, starvation and execution. They were toppled in 1979 by a Vietnamese invasion.

The government has given most Khmer Rouge leaders de facto amnesties in exchange for ending a long guerrilla war.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, a one-time Khmer Rouge field officer, has rejected calls for a U.N.-organized tribunal, insisting that Cambodia can handle the trials with help from foreign jurists.

"He illuminated a page of history that would have been lost to the world had he not spent years in the Cambodian jungle, in a truly extraordinary quest for first-hand knowledge of the Khmer Rouge and their murderous leader. His investigations of the Cambodian political world required not only great risk and physical hardship but also mastery of an ever-changing cast of factional characters."[4]

According to Vaudine England of the BBC, "Many of the region's greatest names in reporting made their mark in the pages of the Review, from the legendary Richard Hughes of Korean War fame, to Nate Thayer, the journalist who found Cambodia's Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot."[5]

Thayer was also the first person in 57 years to turn down a prestigious Peabody Award, because he did not want to share it with ABC News' Nightline whom he believed stole his story and deprived him and the Far Eastern Economic Review of income.[6][7]

He began his career in Southeast Asia on the Thai-Cambodian border, taking part in an academic research project in which he interviewed 50 Cham survivors of Khmer Rouge atrocities at Nong Samet Refugee Camp in 1984.[15][16] He then returned to Massachusetts where he worked briefly as the Transportation Director for the state Office of Handicapped Affairs.[17][18] Thayer himself noted, "I got fired. I was a really bad bureaucrat."[19]

He later worked for Soldier of Fortune Magazine reporting on guerrilla combat in Burma,[20] and in 1989 he began reporting for the Associated Press from the Thai-Cambodian border.[21] In October 1989 he was nearly killed when an anti-tank mine exploded under a truck he was riding in.[22] In 1991 he moved to Cambodia where he began writing for the Far Eastern Economic Review.[23][24]

In August 1992 Thayer traveled to Mondulkiri Province and visited the last of the FULROMontagnard guerrillas who had remained loyal to their former American commanders.[25] Thayer informed the group that FULRO's president Y Bham Enuol had been executed by the Khmer Rouge seventeen years previously.[26] The FULRO troops surrendered their weapons in October 1992; many of this group were given asylum in the United States.[27][28]

In April 1994 Thayer participated in (and funded) the Cambodian Kouprey Research Project, a $30,000, two-week, 150 km field survey to find the rare Cambodian bovine known as the kouprey.[29] Thayer later wrote: "After compiling a team of expert jungle trackers, scientists, security troops, elephant mahouts and one of the most motley and ridiculous looking groups of armed journalists in recent memory, we marched cluelessly into Khmer Rouge-controlled jungles along the old Ho Chi Minh trail."[30]

In early 1997 he was again expelled from Cambodia for exposing connections between Prime MinisterHun Sen and heroin traffickers.[34][35] Thayer then decided to pursue a fellowship at Johns Hopkins University.

Nate Thayer became world famous in July 1997 when he and Asiaworks Television cameraman David McKaige managed to visit the Anlong Veng Khmer Rouge jungle camp inside Cambodia where Pol Pot was being tried for treason.[36] Thayer had hoped for an interview but was disappointed:

"Pol Pot said nothing. They made it clear and I believed them, that I was to interview Pol Pot after the trial. Pol Pot literally had to be carried away from the trial--he was unable to walk--and I was not able to talk to him. I did try to talk to him... he did not answer any questions, and he did not speak during the trial.[37]"

Thayer noted, "Every ounce of his being was struggling to maintain some last vestige of dignity."[38]

Thayer believed that the trial had been staged by the Khmer Rouge for him and McKaige:

"It was put on specifically for us, to take the message to the world that Pol Pot has been denounced. They had reported on their radio, on June 19, that Pol Pot had been purged. No one believed them. After five years of lying over their radio, there was no reason anyone should take what they say credibly. It was clear to them that they needed an independent, credible witness to show what was happening."[39]

"[Koppel] returned home with a copy of my videotape. I gave it to him in exchange for his strict promise that its only use would be on Nightline. However, once he had the copy of the tape, ABC News released video, still pictures, and even transcripts of my interviews to news organizations throughout the world. Protected by its formidable legal and public relations department, ABC News made still photographs from the video, slapped the “ABC News Exclusive” logo on them, and hand delivered them to newspapers, wire services, and television...All of these pictures demanded that photo credit be given to ABC News... The story won a British Press Award for “Scoop of the Year” for a British paper I didn’t even know had published it...I even won a Peabody Award as a “correspondent for Nightline." But I turned it down—-the first time anyone had rejected a Peabody in its 57-year history."[41]

ABC News responded that they had "agreed to pay Nate Thayer the sizable sum of $350,000 for the rights to use his footage of former Cambodian dictator Pol Pot. Despite the fact that ABC provided prominent and repeated credit and generous remuneration for his work, Mr. Thayer initiated a five-year barrage of complaints coupled with repeated demands for more money."[42] In 2002 Thayer sued Koppel and ABC News for $30 million in punitive damages and unspecified compensatory damages.

"First, I want to let you know that I came to join the revolution, not to kill the Cambodian people. Look at me now. Do you think ... am I a violent person? No. So, as far as my conscience and my mission were concerned, there was no problem. This needs to be clarified...My experience was the same as that of my movement. We were new and inexperienced and events kept occurring one after the other which we had to deal with. In doing that, we made mistakes as I told you. I admit it now and I admitted it in the notes I have written. Whoever wishes to blame or attack me is entitled to do so. I regret I didn't have enough experience to totally control the movement. On the other hand, with our constant struggle, this had to be done together with others in the communist world to stop Kampuchea becoming Vietnamese. For the love of the nation and the people it was the right thing to do but in the course of our actions we made mistakes.[47]"

Thayer visited Anlong Veng again on April 16, 1998, only a day after Pol Pot had died. After photographing the corpse he briefly interviewed Ta Mok and Pol Pot's second wife Muon, who told Thayer, "What I would like the world to know is that he was a good man, a patriot, a good father."[48] Thayer was then asked to transport Pol Pot's body in his pickup truck to the site a short distance away[49] where it was later cremated.[50]

In April 1999 Thayer, alongside photojournalist Nic Dunlop, interviewed Kang Kek Iew (Comrade Duch) for the Far Eastern Economic Review after Dunlop had tracked Duch to Samlaut and suspected strongly that he was the former director of the notorious S-21 security prison.[51] Dunlop wanted Duch to provide clues that would reveal his identity, and Thayer began probing Duch's story that he was Hang Pin, an aid worker and a born-again Christian:

"Then Nate said, 'I believe that you also worked with the security services during the Khmer Rouge Period?' Duch appeared startled and avoided our eyes...Again Nate put the question to him...He looked unsettled and his eyes darted about...He then glanced at Nate's business card...'I believe, Nic, that your friend has interviewed Monsieur Ta Mok and Monsieur Pol Pot?'...He sat back down...and inhaled deeply. 'It is God's will that you are here,' he said."[52]

Duch surrendered to the authorities in Phnom Penh following the publication of this interview.[53][54] Dunlop and Thayer were first runners-up for the 1999 SAIS-Novartis Prize for Excellence in International Journalism, presented by the The Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, for "exposing the inside story of the Khmer Rouge killing machine."[55]

October 03, 2011

Engine implosion probed in jet crash

BANGKOK, Thailand A preliminary investigation into the Lauda Air disaster indicates engine failure may have caused the Boeing 767 to crash, a West European aviation expert close to the probe said today.

"Most attention is now focused on the possibility of an engine implosion," said the expert, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

He said that one wing, with an engine attached, was found 12 miles from the rest of the wreckage and significantly intact, possibly indicating that the wing broke off first and then the plane crashed.

But several aviation experts stressed that the findings still were preliminary and no conclusions could be drawn.

In Seattle, Boeing spokesman Jack Gamble said there had been "no findings of any sort by anybody at this point in time." He disputed the European expert's claim that one wing was found 12 miles from the wreckage.

"Both the engines and the wings are in the general area of the fuselage that they've found," he said. "The story is out that one wing is 12 miles away from the rest of the airplane, and that's not true."

The manufacturer of the two engines, Pratt & Whitney, said today the company had no indication of any engine problem.

"We have never had any problems with this engine," said spokesman Bob Goering in Hartford, Conn.

Meanwhile, Thai air force Group Capt. Danai Nanthasiri said the jet's "black boxes" would be sent to the National Transportation and Safety Board in Washington for examination.

Another Thai official said the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder would be sent to the United States tomorrow.

The plane had two jet engines, and the European expert did not say which may have imploded, or exploded inward.

The Lauda Air jet crashed Sunday in northwest Thailand, 16 minutes after takeoff from Bangkok. All 223 people aboard the plane were killed.

Previously, speculation had focused on a bomb. But the expert said "no evidence of any sort of explosive device" had been found so far.

Another aviation official agreed.

"We expected to see a larger area of debris," said Don Smith, regional manager for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, reached in Singapore. "If it had been an explosive device you would expect a larger area of debris."

A Thai aviation official who flew over the crash site said no shrapnel had been found on the plane or on bodies.

The Lauda Air flight was the first Boeing 767 to be lost in flight.

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BANGKOK, Thailand - Troops backed by armored personnel carriers charged into the streets today and arrested hundreds of protesters after a night of clashes with thousands of people demanding the pro-military prime minister's ouster.

At least eight people were killed and 250 were injured in the unrest, according to authorities and hospital officials.

Faced with the largest and bloodiest anti-establishment protest since 1976, the government declared a state of emergency just after midnight.

On national television, Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon said "the government had no choice but to use force" because protesters had been headed toward government buildings.

The protesters say they want Suchinda, a former army chief, to step down because he was not elected. Suchinda spearheaded a military coup last year and had promised not to take over as prime minister.

Thailand's economic boom has since created a middle class that has broadened the interest in democracy and become increasingly fed up with military interference.

Virtually all sectors of society - students, academics, professionals, poor workers, popular entertainers and social and community leaders - have been involved in the anti-Suchinda protests.

Many were drawn to the streets by the example of pro-democracy leader Chamlong Srimuang, who was arrested. Chamlong has a reputation for honesty in the scandal-ridden world of Thai politics.

At dawn today, security forces fired on the pro-democracy demonstrators in an attempt to clear a downtown thoroughfare occupied by about 20,000 people.

This afternoon, troops moved in, firing into the air as they dispersed the several thousand demonstrators who had remained at barbed-wire barricades on Rajdamnern Avenue.

Reporters saw troops beat and kick surrendering demonstrators. People dove to the ground and fled to sidestreets as armored personnel carriers rolled in.

At about 3:30 p.m., reporters saw soldiers handcuff and take away Chamlong. He had been in a van parked in front of the barricades, and told reporters the demonstrators would not compromise in their demand for Suchinda's ouster.

Later, soldiers forced about 200 demonstrators near the barricades to lie on their stomachs. They later herded them, hands tied behind their backs, into army trucks and buses. The demonstrators defiantly sang the national anthem.

Reporters witnessed hundreds of other arrests on sidestreets, where several thousand defiant demonstrators remained this evening, jeering at troops.

On one sidestreet, soldiers firing into the air charged into a Buddhist temple to evict several hundred demonstrators.

The angry crowd, throwing plastic water bottles, rocks and pieces of glass, sent some of the soldiers fleeing.

Maj. Gen. Thitipong Jetnnuwat told reporters before the afternoon action that troops had killed five people in the unrest, including a foreign journalist whom he did not identify.

Eight hospitals contacted said three people were killed and 250 admitted with injuries. But witnesses reported seeing others killed with some bodies being taken away in army trucks.

A total of 58 soldiers and policemen were injured, some shot by protesters, said Col. Bunchon Chawansin, the assistant secretary of the army.

Chamlong said the demonstrators were unarmed and did not shoot anyone.

Bunchon said security forces opened fire after being provoked by some protesters.

The state of emergency allows authorities to conduct dawn-to-dusk searches, detain anyone suspected of being a threat to national security and ban unauthorized gatherings.

In October 1976, students protesting the return from exile of military dictators were attacked by police and mobs on the Thammasat University campus.

Authorities said 41 people died and more than 100 were wounded in the 1976 unrest, which ended in a military coup.

Yesterday's protest began peacefully in the early evening in a large public field adjacent to Bangkok's famed Buddhist temples. The demonstrators then marched along Rajdamnern Avenue toward Government House - Suchinda's office - about a mile away.

They tore down a barbed-wire barricade set up by police and soldiers at a bridge about halfway along the route.

Violence escalated as protesters set bonfires and hurled Molotov cocktails at the security forces.

The mass protests against Suchinda began with a week-long demonstration that ended May 11 after the five parties in the governing coalition promised constitutional amendments that would require the prime minister to be an elected member of the parliament.

Yesterday's rally was called to keep the pressure on for the amendments.

April 01, 2003

Four missing Western journalists may be still detained by Iraq authorities, friend says

00-00-0000 Dateline: AMMAN, JordanA colleague of four Western journalists and another American who entered Iraq without visas at the start of the war said Tuesday he believed they were being detained by Iraqi authorities.

Nate Thayer, an award-winning freelance journalist from Washington, D.C., said Iraqi authorities arrested him and his photographer, Molly Bingham of Louisville, Kentucky, at their hotel on March 24.

"After five hours of detention and questioning, I was released, but Molly did not come out with me," Thayer told The Associated Press. "I believe she is with the others, although I did not see their detention and no one else did."

He drove out of Baghdad to Jordan last Friday with an Italian photographer who was also being expelled.

"We believe they were detained by the Iraqi security forces, who believe they are something other than what they are," Thayer said. "We want to correct this misunderstanding and get those people back to their homes."

Thayer said that he, Bingham, Spanner and Latasha entered Iraq during the first hours of the U.S.-British bombing of Iraq and claimed they were tourists because they couldn't get press visas. McAllester and Saman went on the same day but with another group, he said.

Journalists expelled from Iraq have told Newsday that security officials came last Monday to the hotel where McAllester and Saman were staying and questioned reporters. No one saw McAllester and Saman removed, but their room was empty when a friend went to check on them, Newsday reported.

Spanner's photos of damaged official buildings in Iraq were printed in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten. The newspaper said Monday that Spanner was being held by Iraqi authorities on suspicions he could be a spy.

"Johan is an independent photographer and innocent," Thayer said. "He wanted to show the world the horror of the war."

May 05, 1999

Khmer Rouge Torturer Gives Interview

BATTAMBANG, Cambodia (AP) -- Eight Westerners were among the 14,000 people tortured and executed two decades ago at the Khmer Rouge's infamous Tuol Sleng prison, the former commandant said in a magazine interview.

Kaing Khek Iev, known as Duch, said American, British, French, Australian and New Zealand citizens were tortured with electric shocks for a month by the prison's chief interrogator, Mam Nay, before being killed.

Speaking in an interview published Thursday in the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review, Duch voiced remorse for the killings and said he would be willing to testify against Khmer Rouge leaders.

However, since the interview, Duch has disappeared. The Review said in a news release Wednesday that he had gone into hiding in fear for his life.

Human rights groups and experts on the Khmer Rouge genocide have said Duch could be killed to keep him from testifying before a Cambodian or international court.

The journalist who conducted the interview told The Associated Press that Duch said a former Khmer Rouge now in the Cambodian military police visited him last week and issued a veiled threat, saying, ``We see you have been talking to the bad people.''

Magazine correspondent Nate Thayer said Duch has good reason to be afraid.

``He is the link between the command-and-control and the killing machine,'' Thayer said. ``I'm sure there are a lot of people nervous that he will name them.''

In the interview with Duch, the former commandant said prisoners were killed ``like chickens.''

``Usually, we slit their throats,'' he said, drawing his finger across his neck.

The Khmer Rouge seized power in 1975 and transformed the country into a slave labor camp, causing the death of an estimated 1.7 million people from overwork, starvation and execution. They were toppled in 1979 by a Vietnamese invasion.

The government has given most Khmer Rouge leaders de facto amnesties in exchange for ending a long guerrilla war.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, a one-time Khmer Rouge field officer, has rejected calls for a U.N.-organized tribunal, insisting that Cambodia can handle the trials with help from foreign jurists.

April 29, 1999

KHMER ROUGE TORTURE FOUND, NOW A BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- The feared chief of the Khmer Rouge's security service, who ordered the torture and killing of at least 14,000 men, women and children in the late 1970s, has been found, a newsmagazine reported.

The report about the discovery of the man known as Duch (pronounced dookh) was to appear in today's issue of the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review, the weekly said.

Photographer Nic Dunlop and Review reporter Nate Thayer, who in 1997 became the first outsider to see the notorious Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot in 18 years, said they met Duch. Duch disappeared when the Khmer Rouge were toppled in 1979 and has long been presumed dead. He converted to Christianity and worked until late last year with various international aid organizations that were unaware of his identity, the magazine said. The government said it knew of Duch's general whereabouts two years ago, though no move was made to take him into custody. He is believed to have been named by the United Nations in a recent list of Khmer Rouge members who should be tried for crimes against humanity. Duch, 56, was quoted by the Review as saying he was deeply sorry for the killings and was willing to face an international tribunal. Genuine remorse would contrast with the grudging apologies offered by some Khmer Rouge leaders. Duch's emergence could increase pressure on Prime Minister Hun Sen to bring Khmer Rouge leaders to trial. In theory, he could be the key witness, able to implicate those above and below him. Only one senior Khmer Rouge figure, hard-line general Ta Mok, is in custody awaiting trial. Most other leaders are living in freedom in exchange for making peace with the government. Prosecutors indicated this week that they may charge Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan, two close lieutenants of Pol Pot. Following the news of Duch's discovery, government spokesman Khieu Kanharith urged him to turn himself in and testify. Kanharith said Duch should be charged, but "it is up to the court to decide." Youk Chhang, director of a documentation center that has gathered evidence for such a trial, shook his head in amazement on Wednesday when shown a recent image of Duch by Associated Press Television News, which has obtained exclusive video shot by Dunlop. "What's important is to have him alive," Youk Chhang said. "He's the key person who could testify as to how the leaders advised him, in terms of security, on assassination and killing of the so-called enemies of the revolution." The best estimate made by the U.S.-funded Cambodian Genocide Program is that 1.7 million Cambodians out of a population of 7.9 million were killed, tortured, starved or worked to death during the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge reign. Duch born Kaing Khek Iev in 1942 headed the internal security organization and was the director of Tuol Sleng, a Phnom Penh high school transformed into an interrogation prison. Victims were chained to bed-frames and tortured to force false "confessions"

May 18, 1998

Peabody winner rejects award for Pol Pot story

AP Online 05-18-1998 NEW YORK (AP) _ Nate Thayer, a Bangkok, Thailand-based journalist who sold a story about Cambodian leader Pol Pot to ABC's ``Nightline,'' rejected the prestigious Peabody award for the piece, saying ABC and Ted Koppel stole his work.

Thayer, 38, said in the May 25 edition of New Yorker magazine, that Koppel promised the story would be a one-week exclusive with North American television rights only.

But before the story went on the air, Thayer said ABC shipped photos of the footage worldwide, put the news on its Web site and allowed The New York Times to preview part of the story in a publicity effort. The effort scooped Thayer's own print account for the Hong Kong-based Far Eastern Economic Review.

In a letter rejecting the Peabody, Thayer said ``Ted Koppel and `Nightline' literally stole my work, took credit for it, trivialized it, refused to pay me and then attempted to bully and extort me when I complained. They should not be rewarded for this behavior and I under no circumstances want my name associated with these egregious violations of basic journalistic ethics and integrity.''

ABC said the pre-broadcast publicity is common practice for such an exclusive story.

Koppel said he was sorry Thayer chose not to accept the Peabody, broadcasting's equivalent to the Pulitzer.

``While he rejects the award, I don't want to reject the enormous contribution that he made to bringing the world this story,'' Koppel said last Monday at the 57th annual awards luncheon.

Thayer was paid $350,000 last month for the story, which aired last July. The video captured the show trial of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge leader blamed for the deaths of up to 2 million of his countrymen. It was the first time in nearly 20 years the Cambodian dictator, who died in prison in March, was caught on camera.

Copyright 1998 The Associated Press All Rights Reserved.

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April 23, 1998

Report: Khmer Rouge collapse drove Pol Pot to tears

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Pol Pot, the tyrannical leader of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, broke down in tears when he realized his once-mighty guerrilla movement was on the brink of defeat, according to an account of his final days published Thursday.

Pol Pot died on April 15 in a small hut near the Thai border as Cambodian government troops were trying to finish off the remnants of the Khmer Rouge. The 73-year-old revolutionary died of a heart attack, said his comrades-turned-captors.

The account in the Hong Kong-based magazine Far Eastern Economic Review suggests the heart attack may have been brought on by hunger, lack of medical care, even shock - upon learning the Khmer Rouge was preparing to turn him over to an international tribunal for trial on genocide charges.

The account was written by U.S. journalist Nate Thayer, who last year became the first foreign journalist in 18 years to have an interview with the elusive Pol Pot. The interview occurred shortly after Pol Pot was deposed as head of the movement and placed under house arrest.

Pol Pot led the 1975-79 Khmer Rouge regime that through its radical Maoist-inspired policies caused the deaths of as many as 2 million Cambodians - either in mass executions or from starvation and disease. Since then, the Khmer Rouge has operated as a guerrilla army operating mostly from northern Cambodia.

Thayer quoted a Khmer Rouge military commander as saying Pol Pot died just hours after he learned of the plan to hand him over from a news broadcast by the Voice of America shortwave radio service.

``We thought the shock of him hearing this on VOA might have killed him,'' the commander, Khem Nuon, is quoted as saying.

Khem Nuon, the story noted, had told Thayer a different account a week earlier, saying Pol Pot had been informed of the decision to send him for trial and accepted it with revolutionary stoicism.

Now he claims they only told him ``we were in a very difficult situation and perhaps it was better that he go abroad. Tears came to his eyes when I told him that.''

Thayer wrote that the fighting which drove the Khmer Rouge from their northern Cambodian stronghold of Anlong Veng prevented the ailing revolutionary from receiving proper care.

``For the last few weeks he had diarrhea and we haven't had much food,'' the current Khmer Rouge leader, Ta Mok, was quoted as saying.

A few days before his death, Pol Pot dyed his gray hair black, suggesting he was afraid of being captured.

At one point, Pol Pot was able to glimpse the turmoil caused by the fighting as he and his wife and 12-year-old daughter were being driven from one shelter to another, his minder, Non Nou, was quoted as saying.

``When he saw the peasants and our cadres lying by the side of the road with no food or shelter, he broke down into tears,'' said Non Nou.

Pol Pot's 40-year-old widow, Muon, quoted him as saying ``My only wish is that Cambodians stay united so that Vietnam will not swallow our country.'' Vietnam drove the Khmer Rouge from power in 1979.

Ta Mok denied, as he has previously, speculation that he had Pol Pot killed.

The very night Pol Pot died, Ta Mok said, he had wanted to move him to another house for security reasons.

``He was sitting in his chair, waiting for the car to come. But he felt tired. Pol Pot's wife asked him to take a rest. He lay down in his bed. His wife heard a gasp of air. It was the sound of dying. When she touched him, he had passed away already.''

April 14, 1998

Magazine says Khmer Rouge leaders wants to surrender Pol Pot

HONG KONG (AP) _ Cambodia's Khmer Rouge officials have told a Hong Kong-based magazine they want to hand their former leader Pol Pot over to an international tribunal.

Meanwhile, Cambodia's army says it has trapped remaining Khmer Rouge forces in the mountains near the Thai border, and is poised to finish them off.

The Far Eastern Economic Review reported in its latest issue that the Khmer Rouge rebels have asked Review correspondent Nate Thayer for advice on how to deliver the notorious Pol Pot to the authorities.

Gen. Khem Nuon reportedly made the request Saturday during an interview with Thayer at the Thai-Cambodian border.

Khmer Rouge forces have held Pol Pot, 73, under house arrest since June, when they ousted him in a bloody internal power struggle.

Thayer interviewed Pol Pot last year after attending a communist-style ``People's Tribunal'' where the rebels denounced the former leader.

Gen. Nuon reportedly said the Khmer Rouge was unable to contact the United Sates or other countries, and asked Thayer to put them in contact with the ``right people.''

Thayer suggested they contact the International Committee of the Red Cross, the report said.

Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh in 1975 and ruled Cambodia until 1979, presiding over the deaths of an estimated 2 million people. A Vietnamese invasion in 1979 forced the Khmer Rouge to retreat back to the jungle.

There have been calls for Pol Pot to be brought before the International Court of Justice in the Hague to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The rebels hope handing Pol Pot to the authorities will bring food, medicine and other international support for the beleaguered Khmer Rouge.

According to Cambodian military sources, the army is currently hammering the Khmer Rouge guerillas near their former mountain stronghold along the Thai border.

Reports indicate Khmer Rouge head Ta Mok and an undetermined number of hard-line guerillas are holed up in the jungle peaks and attempting a last desperate stand.

Most of the government forces are made up of Khmer Rouge defectors, who oppose their former comrades' refusal to strike a peace deal with Phnom Penh.

Some 5,000 defectors are waiting out the fighting 25 miles south of the battle zone. The government said they will send them and their families home when it is safe.

Magazine says Khmer Rouge leaders wants to surrender Pol Pot

AP Online04-14-1998 HONG KONG (AP) _ Cambodia's Khmer Rouge officials have told a Hong Kong-based magazine they want to hand their former leader Pol Pot over to an international tribunal.

Meanwhile, Cambodia's army says it has trapped remaining Khmer Rouge forces in the mountains near the Thai border, and is poised to finish them off.

The Far Eastern Economic Review reported in its latest issue that the Khmer Rouge rebels have asked Review correspondent Nate Thayer for advice on how to deliver the notorious Pol Pot to the authorities.

Gen. Khem Nuon reportedly made the request Saturday during an interview with Thayer at the Thai-Cambodian border.

Khmer Rouge forces have held Pol Pot, 73, under house arrest since June, when they ousted him in a bloody internal power struggle.

Thayer interviewed Pol Pot last year after attending a communist-style ``People's Tribunal'' where the rebels denounced the former leader.

Gen. Nuon reportedly said the Khmer Rouge was unable to contact the United Sates or other countries, and asked Thayer to put them in contact with the ``right people.''

Thayer suggested they contact the International Committee of the Red Cross, the report said.

Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh in 1975 and ruled Cambodia until 1979, presiding over the deaths of an estimated 2 million people. A Vietnamese invasion in 1979 forced the Khmer Rouge to retreat back to the jungle.

There have been calls for Pol Pot to be brought before the International Court of Justice in the Hague to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The rebels hope handing Pol Pot to the authorities will bring food, medicine and other international support for the beleaguered Khmer Rouge.

According to Cambodian military sources, the army is currently hammering the Khmer Rouge guerillas near their former mountain stronghold along the Thai border.

Reports indicate Khmer Rouge head Ta Mok and an undetermined number of hard-line guerillas are holed up in the jungle peaks and attempting a last desperate stand.

Most of the government forces are made up of Khmer Rouge defectors, who oppose their former comrades' refusal to strike a peace deal with Phnom Penh.

Some 5,000 defectors are waiting out the fighting 25 miles south of the battle zone. The government said they will send them and their families home when it is safe.

August 30, 1997

As Britain handed its cherished Hong Kong back to China in 1997 and Cambodia endured a coup that would bring decades of civil war to an end, American journalist Dan Boylan filed the following.

PHNOM PENH - “Strange … peace kills business,” one reporter said on a recent night at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Cambodia. Sitting alone, he stared into his Angkor beer while the sun sank against the Tonle Sap River outside.

Just last summer, as AK-47′s rattled nearby, the club was packed. Reporters from around the world had descended upon Phnom Penh to cover Cambodia’s latest war, a short-lived affair that smashed a short-lived coalition government. With the action came the out-of-town professionals.

“Yeah, it was wall to wall then,” said club manager Tony Anderson. “But if you watched or read anything they were reporting, you’d have thought there was fighting on every corner. That simply wasn’t the case. If you really wanted to know what the hell was going on, you needed to talk with the reporters based here.”

The reporters based here, the ones Anderson admires, are a new breed of foreign correspondent – the freelancer. Phnom Penh’s full of them; part-time writers, photographers and hangers on, all working against the odds. They defy media budget cuts and a reduced demand for international news by sticking around to cover everyday Cambodia.

They are a mix of saints and sinners; some write truth and tragedy, others get blown-up playing war alongside guerrilla troops and some simply enjoy the cheap pot and sex – for US$20 you can get sky high with a hooker until sunrise. But the real attraction is the opportunity: Cambodia is cheap, full of stories, and too dangerous for most. “All you need to get here is a backpack and some dreams,” said one reporter.

One dream universally pursued here finally ended two weeks ago with the death of Pol Pot. A madman of staggering proportion, Pol Pot ran the Khmer Rouge and ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, leaving an estimated 2 million people dead in his wake. He spent the next two decades hiding in the country’s impenetrable northern jungles.

The man was the ultimate savage riddle – who really was he, where was he, and why had he killed so many fellow countrymen, babies…pregnant mothers? Freelancers seeking to solve the puzzle and remind the world of the tragedy he left behind, started trickling into Cambodia during the late 1980s when the country began to stabilize (it still receives the US State Department’s highest grade travel advisory).

Kicking around Phnom Penh and Bangkok, a base for many reporters covering Cambodia, it’s a pleasant surprise to find a number have Massachusetts links; the State House, the combat zone (when there was one), appreciation for the Boston Herald’s Howie Carr, etc. etc.

In fact, it was a Bostonian, Nate Thayer, who nearly solved the riddle last year, when he the scored an exclusive interview with Pol Pot. Considered the decade’s biggest international scoop and the last major interview in Asia, Thayer’s meeting was Pol Pot’s first with an outsider in 18 years and ended up being the last. “Look at me, am I a savage? My conscience is clear,” the dying 72-year-old told Thayer last October.

Thayer’s stories forced world leaders to finally consider trying the murderer before international courts for crimes against humanity. A week before Pol Pot’s death, Bill Clinton even admitted serious interest in the issue. Now, it’s too late.

Thayer hunted 10-years for the story. During the quest, he trekked 700 kilometers of jungle, was hospitalized 16 times with cerebral malaria, suffered land mine injuries, and led a now mythical hunt for Cambodia’s bizarre endangered cow – the Kupray. Thayer once finagled $478 out of the Associated Press for gin and tonics. “Medical reasons,” he said with a laugh. “You know, tonic contains anti-malarial agents.”

He split UMASS Boston in 1988. “I looked at my life – school, a job and a fiancée from hell – and decided it was all wrong…it was fucking boring.” Thayer scraped by month-to-month, working for Soldier of Fortune magazine and the AP before freelancing for the Far Eastern Economic Review weekly magazine. For the Review, Thayer linked Cambodia’s key political figures to Southeast Asia’s massive heroin trade, and uncovered the last army still fighting the Vietnam War. “I was the first white guy they’d seen in 17 years,” he said. “When I showed up the head of the tribe asked, ‘where are our guns?’”

People here say Thayer’s an inspiration. His Pol Pot story took 10 years of grunt work, an impossibility for reporters who drop into Cambodia only when it’s on the verge of war. Others here have put in their time, like international freelancer and cameraman David McKaige, who accompanied Thayer on his Pol Pot interview.

In the past decade, the fierce eyed 32-year-old McKaige has worked in Bosnia, Africa, Sri-Lanka and other war-torn regions. “I’ll admit it - I’ve been numbed by some of what I’ve seen,” he said, commenting on the height of the Balkan War. “You’d walk into a village and see a young girl who’d just been gang raped an hour earlier, send out the story, and no-one in the world gave a shit. That was hard.”

McKaige stuffed his backpack at the end of his freshman year at Boston College and started hacking through the Cambodia/Thai border freelancing for CBS. These days, he runs AsiaWorks in Bangkok, supplying Southeast Asian news footage to media organizations across the world. McKaige’s work is an uphill battle. Budget cuts by America’s networks (CBS, NBC and ABC), have reduced regional coverage and expertise. “Tokyo bureaus now cover all of Asia,” he said.

Some wire services have also cut budgets, killing coveted “ex-pat packages,” that allowed reporters to live abroad in comfort. Reuters, the British news wire, began acing expat deals in the early 1990s. “Reuters beancounters heralded the death of the ex-pat package,” said Luke Hunt, a quick-witted Australian correspondent based in Hong Kong. “Locals have begun writing what outsiders, who knew their home audiences, once covered.”

On some level this works, as the focus of international news since the Cold War’s end has shifted from politics to business. America and it’s allies no longer fight the Soviet Union to contain communism, but instead wrangle with local leaders to open markets to capitalism. The new weapons are trade agreements and stock markets and news from these battlegrounds doesn’t require the same world-view as coverage of America’s military situation in Asia.

But many here say it’s gone to far, leaving big picture stories by the wayside. McKaige pointed to Reuters, located beneath his AsiaWorks studio, as an example. There, in an office of 25 employees, 23 work on financial news and corporate sales, while two reporters cover general news. “In Asia these days – it’s all fucking business,” McKaige said.

Thayer believes everyone, including corporate types, want to know more. According to the Review’s sales figures for 1997, the two Pol Pot cover stories were last year’s best sellers. “It’s complete bullshit that business people are only interested in investment news,” Thayer said. “People everywhere want to know what the hell’s really going on in the world.”

An interesting point, but how does it apply to Cambodia now that Pol Pot’s gone? He was the evil head of a beastly story about a country utterly destroyed in a side-show to the Vietnam War. The country has no economic stories suited for the 1990s news climate, outside of gun and drug smuggling. Human interest news all but dried up when anti-land mine operatives won last year’s Noble Peace Prize. What’s left?

While pondering such cosmic issues, some correspondent’s fall back on the perverse image of the trade: heavy drink and obnoxious behavior. Take former Reuters correspondent Leo Dobbs who got fired after he called Cambodian Premier Hun Sen’s house at midnight and told Hun’s wife to “fuck off.” Dobb’s, who’s mighty thirst is known as far as Hong Kong, remembered nothing of the incident the following morning until a call came from Reuters rescinding his post.

“You get some crazy people down here,” said Michael Hayes, editor of the Phnom Penh Post, Cambodia’s leading English language paper. “Established journalists don’t want to live in a shithole like this, and that brings in the backpackers.”

Hayes, who arrived lacking journalism experience himself, said fresh blood can be a good thing. Since the Post’s first edition in 1992, he’s relied largely on a pool of freelance talent, led by Thayer, to put out a bi-weekly paper that’s tackled issues no one else will touch. “These guys are the lifeblood of reporting coming out of the third world these days,” he said.

Back at the Foreign Correspondents Club they know this. They’ll tell you Thayer may have been passed over for last year’s Pulitzer Prize earlier this month, but everyone knows it was his work that brought the tragedy of Cambodia back into the world’s headlines. Pol Pot may be dead, but his legacy lives – child soldiers, rocket launchers, jungle warfare…senseless death. Those stories will likely come from the freelancers.

Elections set for this summer should be bloody enough to attract the hordes of international press again, but like they say, if you want to know what’s going on, you have to talk to the people based here. “This place will fill up again soon,” said the reporter at the bar as the moon began to rise. “It’ll be bullshit, but that’s life in Cambodia.”

July 28, 1997

KHMER ROUGE GIVE POL POT LIFE IN PRISON

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- The Khmer Rouge leader whose reign of terror left nearly two million Cambodians dead sat silently, nearly in tears while his former comrades denounced him during a "show trial," the first Western journalist to see Pol Pot in 18 years said today.

The white-haired, 69-year-old leader, wearing baggy black trousers, a gray shirt and blue scarf, sat on a makeshift stage while his comrades shouted at him, according to Nate Thayer, a correspondent for the Far Eastern Economic Review.

For the man who ruled Cambodia with a brutal and absolute hand from 1975-79, the shock of being turned on by his own men appeared to be too much. After the 80-minute outdoor trial -- and sentence of life in prison -- Thayer said Pol Pot needed to be assisted by men gripping his arms. "The events of his purge and trial were so traumatic that I thought he might die during the process," Thayer said in a press release received today in Bangkok. "You could see the anguish on his face as he was denounced by his former loyalists. He was close to tears." Pol Pot and three top commanders were put through a "classic, 1960s Cultural Revolution-style show trial" Friday in the guerrilla stronghold of Anlong Veng, Thayer said. Thayer, a former reporter for The Associated Press, was permitted to enter Anlong Veng, about 200 miles northwest of Phnom Penh, on Friday. There, he said, he saw Pol Pot, who is seriously ill and from time to time had been rumored to have died. Cambodian leader Hun Sen today called the reported trial "a political game by the Khmer Rouge." "Pol Pot is in Anlong Veng and is leading the forces," Hun Sen told reporters in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh. Thayer, however, said a crowd of 500 Khmer Rouge guerillas and civilians -- many of whom were missing an arm, leg or an eye from Cambodia's decades-long civil war -- chanted "Crush, crush, crush, Pol Pot and his clique." Seven Khmer Rouge leaders testified that Pol Pot, whose real name is Saloth Sar, and his men were guilty of murders, destroying national reconciliation and stealing money from the party. They said the "drunk and corrupt" commanders had raped the wives of their comrades. The Khmer Rouge said, however, he would not be turned over to international courts. Most of Pol Pot's remaining Khmer Rouge guerillas turned against him in June after he murdered his defense minister Son Sen and 10 members of Son Sen's family. Pol Pot executed Son Sen for allegedly betraying him during peace negotiations the Khmer Rouge was holding with First Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, who was deposed July 5 in a coup by his co-premier, Hun Sen. Pol Pot fled through the jungles, carried on a stretcher, until he was captured by his former men. Most of the information about the demise of Pol Pot came from Cambodian government sources, and many observers doubted whether the reports were credible. "This is not a hoax, this is not a ruse. Pol Pot is finished," Thayer said. "The Khmer Rouge as we have known them no longer exist." The Khmer Rouge swept to power in April 1975, and to implement their radical Maoist version of communism immediately emptied out cities, and turned the country into a massive agricultural labor camp. As many as 2 million Cambodians perished as they brutally purged all opposition. Many died from overwork, starvation and disease before a Vietnamese invasion ousted the Khmer Rouge in early January 1979. The Khmer Rouge fled to the border near Thailand where they continued to wage a guerilla war until the movement began to fragment as guerrillas began defecting to the government in 1996.

COPYRIGHT 2007 The Columbian. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All inquiries regarding rights or concerns about this content should be directed to Customer Service. For permission to reuse this article, contact Copyright Clearance Center.

BANGKOK, Thailand - Troops backed by armored personnel carriers charged into the streets today and arrested hundreds of protesters after a night of clashes with thousands of people demanding the pro-military prime minister's ouster.

At least eight people were killed and 250 were injured in the unrest, according to authorities and hospital officials.

Faced with the largest and bloodiest anti-establishment protest since 1976, the government declared a state of emergency just after midnight.

On national television, Prime Minister Suchinda Kraprayoon said "the government had no choice but to use force" because protesters had been headed toward government buildings.

The protesters say they want Suchinda, a former army chief, to step down because he was not elected. Suchinda spearheaded a military coup last year and had promised not to take over as prime minister.

Thailand's economic boom has since created a middle class that has broadened the interest in democracy and become increasingly fed up with military interference.

Virtually all sectors of society - students, academics, professionals, poor workers, popular entertainers and social and community leaders - have been involved in the anti-Suchinda protests.

Many were drawn to the streets by the example of pro-democracy leader Chamlong Srimuang, who was arrested. Chamlong has a reputation for honesty in the scandal-ridden world of Thai politics.

At dawn today, security forces fired on the pro-democracy demonstrators in an attempt to clear a downtown thoroughfare occupied by about 20,000 people.

This afternoon, troops moved in, firing into the air as they dispersed the several thousand demonstrators who had remained at barbed-wire barricades on Rajdamnern Avenue.

Reporters saw troops beat and kick surrendering demonstrators. People dove to the ground and fled to sidestreets as armored personnel carriers rolled in.

At about 3:30 p.m., reporters saw soldiers handcuff and take away Chamlong. He had been in a van parked in front of the barricades, and told reporters the demonstrators would not compromise in their demand for Suchinda's ouster.

Later, soldiers forced about 200 demonstrators near the barricades to lie on their stomachs. They later herded them, hands tied behind their backs, into army trucks and buses. The demonstrators defiantly sang the national anthem.

Reporters witnessed hundreds of other arrests on sidestreets, where several thousand defiant demonstrators remained this evening, jeering at troops.

On one sidestreet, soldiers firing into the air charged into a Buddhist temple to evict several hundred demonstrators.

The angry crowd, throwing plastic water bottles, rocks and pieces of glass, sent some of the soldiers fleeing.

Maj. Gen. Thitipong Jetnnuwat told reporters before the afternoon action that troops had killed five people in the unrest, including a foreign journalist whom he did not identify.

Eight hospitals contacted said three people were killed and 250 admitted with injuries. But witnesses reported seeing others killed with some bodies being taken away in army trucks.

A total of 58 soldiers and policemen were injured, some shot by protesters, said Col. Bunchon Chawansin, the assistant secretary of the army.

Chamlong said the demonstrators were unarmed and did not shoot anyone.

Bunchon said security forces opened fire after being provoked by some protesters.

The state of emergency allows authorities to conduct dawn-to-dusk searches, detain anyone suspected of being a threat to national security and ban unauthorized gatherings.

In October 1976, students protesting the return from exile of military dictators were attacked by police and mobs on the Thammasat University campus.

Authorities said 41 people died and more than 100 were wounded in the 1976 unrest, which ended in a military coup.

Yesterday's protest began peacefully in the early evening in a large public field adjacent to Bangkok's famed Buddhist temples. The demonstrators then marched along Rajdamnern Avenue toward Government House - Suchinda's office - about a mile away.

They tore down a barbed-wire barricade set up by police and soldiers at a bridge about halfway along the route.

Violence escalated as protesters set bonfires and hurled Molotov cocktails at the security forces.

The mass protests against Suchinda began with a week-long demonstration that ended May 11 after the five parties in the governing coalition promised constitutional amendments that would require the prime minister to be an elected member of the parliament.

Yesterday's rally was called to keep the pressure on for the amendments.

March 13, 1992

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - At least 10 Cambodian soldiers have been killed and 40 wounded in a truce-breaking Khmer Rouge offensive to grab land before U.N. peacekeepers arrive.

Observers said the offensive, which began this week and was expected to escalate further, was the heaviest in more than a year. They said the Communist Khmer Rouge were apparently attempting to capture as much territory as possible before the full deployment of 22,000 United Nations peacekeepers later this month.

Budget problems delayed the start of the peace mission, raising fears that the fragile peace would collapse before U.N. troops take control. A small advance group of U.N. officials arrived in November, and the first 250 peacekeepers arrived Wednesday.

Any fighting or movement of troops or ammunition violates the U.N.-brokered peace agreement signed in October by the four warring Cambodian factions.

U.N. officials held an emergency session late today with senior military representatives of all four factions to discuss the cease-fire violations. Another meeting was expected tomorrow.

The Khmer Rouge were responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Cambodians in the 1970s before being driven out by Vietnam troops. They are the strongest of the three groups that have fought the Vietnam-backed government for 13 years.

Khmer Rouge guerrillas have bolstered their front lines in northern Cambodia with at least 3,500 reinforcements, new ammunition and heavy weapons since late February, according to guerrilla and U.N. sources.

In this week's offensive, the rebels used rockets, mortars and artillery to attack more than a dozen strategic areas in the Cambodian countryside, U.N. officials said.

Most observers say the heavy fighting will die down when U.N. peacekeepers are deployed to the countryside to disarm and demobilize the guerrillas.

Central government troops have fought back, but observers said the army is in disarray. Many soldiers have deserted, and others have not been paid in months.

January 02, 1992

Cambodian peace may depend on UN troops

PHNOM PENH Cambodia could return to war if the United Nations does not send peacekeeping troops and administrators quickly to oversee the fragile peace accord, a U.S. congressman warned Wednesday.

"So far the peace agreement has succeeded in bringing an end to the fighting, but it could very easily fail if UN forces do not arrive soon," said Rep. Stephen Solarz (D-N.Y.), who is on a congressional fact-finding mission to this country.

The Vietnam-installed government and three rebel groups signed a peace accord in October that created a Supreme National Council to work with the United Nations to administer the country until elections in 1993.

All the parties called Monday to speed up the deployment of 10,000 UN peacekeepers.

Officials said a void in political leadership since the peace plan was signed threatens to plunge the country back into conflict.

An inaugural meeting of the reconciliation council was aborted twice by mob violence and instability in the capital.

A crowd beat and nearly killed Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan on his arrival from 13 years of exile on Nov. 27, forcing him to flee the country. The mob was enraged by the Khmer Rouge killing of hundreds of thousands of people during its fanatical Communist rule in 1975-78.

Last month, anti-government riots left at least eight people dead and 16 others wounded.

The government sent troops to regain control of the streets and banned any demonstrations.

November 27, 1991

Khmer Rouge leader returns, is beaten by Cambodian mob

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia An angry mob screaming "Dog!" and "Murderer!" today surged past police and beat a top leader of the Khmer Rouge, the Communist guerrilla group whose reign of terror in the 1970s left hundreds of thousands dead.

The government ordered in armored personnel carriers to evacuate Khieu Samphan, the right-hand man to top Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, as the crowd prepared to lynch him. Khieu Samphan and Son Sen, another Khmer Rouge leader, and their aides were flown back to Bangkok, Thailand.

Bleeding from the head and chest, Khieu Samphan cowered in a bedroom as security officers prevented him from being strung up by a wire tied to a ceiling fan.

"Please help me, please don't leave me," he pleaded, asking three foreign photographers to say in the room.

Only hours earlier, Khieu Samphan ended his exile and returned to Phnom Penh to take part in a UN-backed plan to end 13 years of civil war between the Khmer Rouge, its two non-Communist guerrilla allies and the government Vietnam installed after invading Cambodia in 1978.

The attack delayed what would have been the first meeting of a national reconciliation council and appeared to jeopardize a UN-brokered peace accord signed last month in Paris by all four warring factions.

The government, in a statement carried by its official news agency, said it remained fully committed to the peace pact. Under the accord, a Supreme National Council led by Prince Norodom Sihanouk would help pave the way for elections in 1993.

More than 10,000 angry demonstrators converged on the villa housing the Khmer Rouge delegation today after the 60-year-old Khieu Samphan's return. Khieu Samphan was one of the prime architects of the Khmer Rouge's murderous regime, which killed hundreds of thousands of people as the group tried to turn the country into a vast rural commune. Khieu Samphan is now the group's president.

After storming and ransacking the villa, the mob broke into the second-story room where Khieu Samphan was hiding. Reporters saw him huddled against a wall, wearing a steel helmet and bleeding profusely. He apparently had been struck by a rock.

As thousands of protesters ringed the house, six government armored personnel carriers moved into position outside. One backed into the front entranceway and Khieu Samphan, with several other members of his delegation, clambered onto the back of the vehicle.

Khmer Rouge leader returns, is beaten by Cambodian mob

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia An angry mob screaming "Dog!" and "Murderer!" today surged past police and beat a top leader of the Khmer Rouge, the Communist guerrilla group whose reign of terror in the 1970s left hundreds of thousands dead.

The government ordered in armored personnel carriers to evacuate Khieu Samphan, the right-hand man to top Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, as the crowd prepared to lynch him. Khieu Samphan and Son Sen, another Khmer Rouge leader, and their aides were flown back to Bangkok, Thailand.

Bleeding from the head and chest, Khieu Samphan cowered in a bedroom as security officers prevented him from being strung up by a wire tied to a ceiling fan.

"Please help me, please don't leave me," he pleaded, asking three foreign photographers to say in the room.

Only hours earlier, Khieu Samphan ended his exile and returned to Phnom Penh to take part in a UN-backed plan to end 13 years of civil war between the Khmer Rouge, its two non-Communist guerrilla allies and the government Vietnam installed after invading Cambodia in 1978.

The attack delayed what would have been the first meeting of a national reconciliation council and appeared to jeopardize a UN-brokered peace accord signed last month in Paris by all four warring factions.

The government, in a statement carried by its official news agency, said it remained fully committed to the peace pact. Under the accord, a Supreme National Council led by Prince Norodom Sihanouk would help pave the way for elections in 1993.

More than 10,000 angry demonstrators converged on the villa housing the Khmer Rouge delegation today after the 60-year-old Khieu Samphan's return. Khieu Samphan was one of the prime architects of the Khmer Rouge's murderous regime, which killed hundreds of thousands of people as the group tried to turn the country into a vast rural commune. Khieu Samphan is now the group's president.

After storming and ransacking the villa, the mob broke into the second-story room where Khieu Samphan was hiding. Reporters saw him huddled against a wall, wearing a steel helmet and bleeding profusely. He apparently had been struck by a rock.

As thousands of protesters ringed the house, six government armored personnel carriers moved into position outside. One backed into the front entranceway and Khieu Samphan, with several other members of his delegation, clambered onto the back of the vehicle.

November 17, 1991

Cambodia has hope to rebuild in peace

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia The return of exiled Prince Norodom Sihanouk after the signing of a peace accord kindles a desperate desire among Cambodians to rebuild their ruined land.

Sihanouk's emotional return Thursday to lead a national reconciliation council is filling the southeast Asian country with hope that peace may finally come after 21 years of war, genocide and famine.

Yet a halt in the fighting isn't enough, many say. Unless the ruined economy is infused with massive international aid, political stability will be elusive.

"Everyone is happy the war will stop,"said Sarouen Sok, a 24-year-old student. "But we need foreign aid to help us. We need to only spend money now that will rebuild our country."

Many are pinning their hopes for peace on the foreign troops that have started to arrive under the terms of a United Nations-brokered peace accord signed in Paris last month.

The treaty was signed by the Vietnamese-installed Cambodian government and the guerrilla groups that fought it for 13 years: the detested Khmer Rouge and two non-Communist factions.

Under the accord, the peacekeepers will monitor a cease-fire and help administer elections scheduled for 1993. Until then, the Phnom Penh government will rule the country, advised by the Sihanouk-led Supreme National Council made up of the four warring factions.

Since the first contingent of UN troops arrived from Australia this month, thousands of Phnom Penh residents have gathered to stare in wonder at their headquarters in the capital.

Many residents have expressed hope that the troops not only will help prevent renewed fighting but also will prevent a return to power of the Khmer Rouge, whose three-year rule starting in 1975 led to hundreds of thousands of deaths.

Beyond peace, the wants of most Cambodians are simple. They would like to have enough rice to eat, decent medical care and a homeland free of the legacies of war, including the millions of land mines that remain planted throughout the countryside.

By almost every yardstick - per-capita income, child mortality, disease - the country is among the world's most deprived nations.

Analysts and officials say that if the economic conditions aren't addressed, instability will continue.

"If people are hungry, they will be in bad temper," Deputy Foreign Minister Long Visulo said in a recent interview. "If people are full, the situation will be calm. Foreign investment and economic development will help us solve the political problems."

Yet many Cambodians also worry about the new interim council, since its members are a bitter reminder of the failed leadership of the past.

July 29, 1991

MIA-POW ISSUE SLOWS U.S.- VIETNAM ACCORD

The United States will not establish diplomatic ties with Vietnam until the issue of Americans missing there is resolved and a Cambodian peace accord is signed, a U.S. official said Sunday.

The official, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Solomon, is in Bangkok for discussions with Vietnamese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Mai on the diplomatic issue. The two are to meet on Tuesday.

Vietnamese officials are expected to argue that recent progress toward a peace settlement in Cambodia makes this issue no longer relevant to the question of U.S.-Vietnamese relations.

But Solomon, in an interview, said Washington would not change its long-held position.

"The three primary issues for normalization are a solution to the Cambodian problem, the MIA-POW issue and the people still held in re-education camps in Vietnam," he said. MIA-POW refers to servicemen in the Vietnam War who are listed as missing in action and prisoners of war.

The recent release of a grainy photo that purportedly shows Americans still held captive in Indochina has renewed the debate on 2,274 Americans unaccounted for from the wars in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

Meanwhile Sunday, Senate Republican leader Bob Dole urged President Bush to appoint a presidential commission to investigate whether the three missing Americans are still alive in Southeast Asia.

Appearing on NBC-TV's "Meet the Press" in Washington, D.C., Dole was asked about a statement Friday by National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft that he is convinced no Americans missing from the Vietnam conflict are still living.

"I don't know, and I don't think Brent Scowcroft knows," Dole said. "I think what we should do, and what I would like to see happen this week, is for the President to say, 'I'm going to have a presidential commission. We are going to take another look.'"

"Let's raise this to the highest level to see if we can't address it," the Kansas senator said. "That might in effect help some of the families who are distressed."

In addition, Dole said, "We might be able to weed out some of these people who, I think, have got something pretty good going here. They indicate to families that they can find their sons or husbands. A lot of money is being spent."

American officials say they have serious doubts about the authenticity of the photo, but a vocal lobby in the United States contends that the Vietnamese continue to hold American prisoners.

Kenneth Quinn, a deputy assistant secretary of state, traveled to Vietnam and Laos last week to investigate the photo.

The third issue on the American agenda is the imprisonment of former officials of the pro-American government in re-education camps. Washington has long criticized this, but most of the former officials reportedly have been released.

A senior U.S. government official familiar with Quinn's talks in Hanoi said the Vietnamese were worried that the purported MIA photo would damage efforts to normalize relations.

Now the Vietnamese are going out of their way to open up as never before and this could make it easier to resolve the MIA issue, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Before the photo was released, analysts said Vietnamese-U.S. relations were improving, and hopes were high for peace in Cambodia and progress on the MIA issue.

The United States and Vietnam now are conducting their 14th joint search for Americans missing in Vietnam. On Thursday the United States is to open an MIA liaison office in Hanoi.

June 25, 1991

Cambodians OK new step toward peace

PATTAYA, Thailand Cambodia's warring factions moved another step toward peace Monday when they signed an agreement under which they would stop receiving foreign arms.

The accord also put in formal wording a truce declared Sunday between the Vietnam-installed government in Phnom Penh and the three guerrilla groups.

Despite the moves, the quest for a lasting end to the 12-year-old civil war faced major obstacles. Previous cease-fires have fallen apart, and the new pact left unresolved such issues as how to halt the combat and disarm the fighters.

"The declaration is one thing. The implementation is another," cautioned Prince Norodom Ranariddh, son of the resistance leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk.

The 12 members of the Supreme National Council, from the Cambodian government and guerrilla factions, signed the five-point pact on the first day of talks at this beach resort near Bangkok. The national council seeks to implement a United Nations Security Council peace plan drafted late last year. The talks have been mired by bickering over the role of the world body and other issues.

Under the peace plan as drafted, the UN would be extensively involved in Cambodia's administration and military affairs before elections.

The rebels have accepted the plan, but the Cambodian government has rejected demobilization before elections are held and is demanding measures to prevent any takeover attempt by Communist Khmer Rouge rebels.

Sihanouk denounced Prime Minister Hun Sen's reservations about the peace proposal. Sihanouk said a UN representative told him the UN Security Council would not monitor the truce or other agreements unless the entire plan was accepted.

"Sihanouk is putting the squeeze on Hun Sen," one diplomat said, on condition of anonymity. "He knows that Hun Sen knows you cannot have a cease-fire and cessation of arms without the UN plan."

The Supreme National Council said Monday it would "implement the unlimited cease-fire and undertake to stop receiving foreign military aid as from 24th June, 1991." Sihanouk is to direct future meetings of the council and lead a delegation to the UN.

January 27, 1991

Miners risk all for Cambodia rubies

BORAI, Thailand Thousands of fortune hunters risk land mines and malaria digging for rubies in the war zones of guerrilla-controlled western Cambodia.

Ruby fever has gripped this border town. Miners tell their adventures in bustling poolrooms and bars.

Lucky miners make fortunes, as in the gold rushes of the American West in the 19th century. They emerge from the jungle with pockets full of rubies.

Wutipong Sophapong, owner of a gas station in Borai, sat on his back porch fondling several hundred gems - dug from his yard in a single day, he said.

The Khmer Rouge captured the area east of Borai in 1989 and opened the border to Thai miners to help finance its war with Cambodia's Vietnam-sponsored government.

About 50,000 miners a month trek over the Ban Thad Mountains into the Cambodian jungles, according to Thai authorities. They say hundreds have died there, about one-third return with deadly cerebral malaria and others lose limbs to land mines.

Despite the risks, newcomers arrive every day.

"Over this mountain a few days' walk, you just stick your hand in the ground and the dirt is filled with red jewels," a miner said, his eyes sparkling while he waited to be checked for malaria.

The Khmer Rouge, who abolished money and all forms of private enterprise during their brutal 3 1/2 years in power, now oversee a sophisticated mining operation that miners and provincial officials say brings them millions of dollars a month.

Each miner pays the equivalent of $60 for access to the region and can keep whatever he finds. Officials say the windfall may allow the Khmer Rouge to buy weapons on the black market if supplies dry up from China, which is among the world powers searching for a peace formula in Cambodia.

Borai District officials estimate that more than 100 million baht ($4 million) change hands every day in deals over rubies.

"There are a lot of 3 or 4 million baht stones," the district chief of Borai said. "The most valuable one so far went for 24 million baht," about $1 million.

Less than a yard from where Wutipong sat on his back porch, the yard disappeared into a 100-foot-deep hole the size of a football field. The hole was filled with pumps, workers and two cranes worth $280,000 each, which the gas station owner bought after striking it rich a few months ago.

"There is an old canal under my house and we found rubies on both sides, so we are going to tear down the house in a few weeks," he said.